Details were not forthcoming at press time, but the U.S. Navy and the office of local physician Dr. Jean Wise have confirmed that former U.S. Navy Seal Jeremy Wise was among seven individuals confirmed killed Dec. 30 in an insurgent attack upon a forward operating base in Afghanistan.
Wise was the son of Dr. Jean and Mary Wise, of Hope, and a native of California, who enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 2001. Dr. Wise’s office said Monday that no information has been forthcoming concerning funeral arrangements at press time, and the family was en route to Virginia Beach, Va., during the weekend.
Jeremy Wise was separated from the U.S. Navy in 2009, according to the Naval Special Warfare Group Two, Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek, Virginia Beach, Virginia.
“He was stationed as a member of a SEAL team out of Little Creek, Virginia, when he was active duty,” USN Lieutenant (jg) Arlo Abrahamson said Monday.
Lt. Abrahamson said no information regarding Wise’s posting or duties at the time of his death would be released by the Navy since he had left active duty.
“Our condolences go out to the the Wise family during what has to be a difficult time,” Abrahamson said. “Jeremy will be missed by his friends and former team members here at Special Warfare.”
Wise said in a 2003 interview in the Hope Star that he joined the SEALs after completing a degree in biology and two years of medical school studies.
“I’m not the salty old frogman,” Wise said in that interview. “But, you definitely learn to be part of the team; there is no Rambo; there is no tough, macho guy. It’s all about being part of the team.”
A U.S. official who declined to be named said the bodies of the dead would be repatriated to the United States at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
Forward Operating Base Chapman, where Wise was working as a security contractor at the time of the attack, is a former military facility which is now used primarily as a Central Intelligence Agency base of operations in Afghanistan. It is located in the Khost province, which borders Pakistan and is considered a stronghold area of the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, according to the Associated Press.
The AP reported that seven CIA employees were killed and six other individuals were injured Dec. 30 in a suicide bombing attack at the base. AP reported that the Taliban took credit for the attack, which allegedly occurred in the gymnasium on the base.
