110 W. New York Ave.
DeLand, FL 32720
386-734-4622
IMAGE COURTESY GLOBAL ALLIANCE
Remembered — Master Sgt. Tara Jacobs Brown, left, made the cover of Global Alliance, a magazine of the Association of Former OSI Special Agents. Master Sgt. Gisele Boyle was photographed with Tara Jacobs Brown in Afghanistan.
PHOTO COURTESY JIM JACOBS
Graduation — Tara Jacobs celebrates with her father, Jim Jacobs, at her graduation from Deltona High School in 1995.
Memorial scholarship fundraiser set for Saturday, Feb. 16
By Pat Andrews
posted Feb 4, 2013 - 12:01:20pm
UPDATE FRIDAY, FEB. 15 — It's not too late to make a reservation for the tribute to his daughter, Master Sgt. Tara Jacobs Brown set for tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 16, Jim Jacobs said today. The time schedule has been pushed back slightly, with a social time beginning at 5 p.m. at the Clarion Hotel in DeLand. Call him at 407-232-0411.
PREVIOUSLY REPORTED — About the worst thing that can happen in this life is a parent losing a child. Little but time and honoring that child’s memory can ease the pain.
With the help of friends and family members, Jim Jacobs set up a scholarship in honor of his daughter, Air Force Master Sgt. Tara Jacobs Brown of Deltona, who lost her life in Kabul, Afghanistan, on April 27, 2011.
The Tara Jacobs Brown Scholarship Foundation will assist Volusia County high-school students who want to go to college.
Now, to begin building that scholarship fund, military leaders who served with Brown are deploying to DeLand for a dinner Brown’s father hopes will become an annual event.
The gathering is set for 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 16, at the Clarion Hotel, at 350 E. International Speedway Blvd. A donation of $50 per person includes dinner, live music and talks by military personnel.
Brown was there on an assignment as a computer trainer, instructing Afghan military technicians in the use of desktop computers and networks.
She had joined the Air Force shortly after graduating from Deltona High School in 1995, and had served for 15 years. Brown found her niche in Air Force computer training.
She left behind a husband, Staff Sgt. Ernest Brown, who serves at the White House.
“Though they had only been married about four months, they knew each other for about 10 years,” Jacobs said.
The couple had made plans to go on a honeymoon cruise the week after Tara Brown was killed. Jacobs, who now lives in the Orlando area, was looking forward to a post-cruise meet-up with the newlyweds when Ernest Brown called him. With a chaplain at his side, Ernest Brown told his father-in-law of Tara Brown’s death.
Jacobs said both he and Ernest Brown are coming through their grief.
“Me and her husband had a conversation about it. She had a great life,” Jacobs said. “You can’t quit God.”
Both men took comfort in the fact that Tara Brown had been doing what she wanted to do, Jacobs said.
Ernest Brown will attend the fundraiser in DeLand.
So will some of the people with whom Tara Jacobs Brown served. They will share their thoughts during the event.
They include:
• Col. Bob Trayers, Tara Brown’s squadron commander in Afghanistan. He called Tara Brown an amazing person who was “always there to lend an ear, give some advice, or laugh at a joke,” and who never complained, despite the harsh conditions. “Tara was very proud of her service to her country and not only did it well ... she led the way! This foundation will keep Tara’s memory alive and well and her star shining over all of us and future generations,” Trayers said.
• Retired Lt. Col. Sally Stenton, who called Tara Brown “a woman of substance” who was “smart, dedicated and patriotic,” and who believed in education. “This is why it’s so appropriate that Tara’s legacy be carried on with an educational scholarship,” Stenton added.
• Master Sgt. Sonya L. Couture, who said of Tara Brown, “She spoke often of her sister’s children and her desire to ensure they had every educational opportunity to succeed. Tara’s devotion to the online classes she was taking, along with her encouragement, inspired me to begin working on my education, as well.” Since Tara Brown’s death, Couture has completed two professional military-education courses online, and earned an associate degree.
• Master Sgt. Gisele Boyle, who served with Tara Brown in Alaska and Afghanistan. “We were inseparable,” Boyle said. She could only imagine Tara Brown helping the victims —not being one of them.
• Volusia County Council Member Pat Northey, in whose district Tara Jacobs Brown lived. Northey is married to a Vietnam War veteran.
Jacobs draws comfort from his remaining children: son Jim, who served in the Marines for four years; another daughter, Laguanda, who lives in Maryland and has given Jacobs grandchildren; son Dominic, who lives in New York; and youngest son, Michael, who just completed his first year in the Army and is stationed at Fort Hood, Texas.
For more information about the fundraiser, or to donate to the scholarship fund, call Jacobs at 407-232-0411, send him an email at jerryyone@aol.com, or visit the website www.tarajacobsbrownscholarshipfoundation.webs.com.
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@local Resident
You are making my point. Don't you realise how governments use the sacrifice of their troops to cover for their blunders? Our military has nothing to do with defending freedom of speech at all. We do not own Afghanistan or Iraq and occupying those nations is only making everything worse for the world.
General George Patton " you are not supposed to die for your country you are supposed to get the enemy to die for his country"
The key is to learn... The war in Afghanistan has nothing to do with anyone's Freedom at all. It is an occupation that was doomed to failure from day number one. It was another foolish military answer to a question that there is no answer to.
I also respect any soldiers sacrifice, ultimate or otherwise...but our government has put these soldiers in harms way on a mission doomed to failure for over 10 years.
War is a business...just study the contracts associated with military spending the tell me soldiers are sacrificing for FREEDOM of SPEECH. Do not kid yourself it is about the money flow at the Pentagon and the corrupt nature of OUR government.
If God Blesses America then why are we occupying so many countries, why have we bombed so many countries? The USA is a military Empire crumbling under its own weight.
Is the USA to home of the BRAVE...attacking from DRONES at suspected targets? Our military is a high tech meat axe smashing anything it can and calling it fighting for FREEDOM of Speech...get real.
DRONES...now stop and think of the implication of that word....really.
Interesting, all the speakers include only those who agree with the status quo of conquering of foreign nations for their resources , whether material or geograpgic. P Northey has never served, yet takes the opportunity to speak about her lack of understanding of global politics and American Imperial Dominance.
Tara did not serve to preserve my right of free speech 7k miles from American shores. She was used to invade a sovereign nation. Ask an Afghan citizen.
"Local" makes mention of "proper time and place" for CRITICAL THINKING. Please tell all the world where, and when the proper time will arrise to inform human beings to stop killing human beings? I for one, take every opportunity to save lives foreign and domestic.
You are entitled to your opinions. In fact, Tara died in defense of your free speech, whether you acknowledge that or not.
In these times, manners are not taught the way they once were. For that reason, I will assume you were just not taught properly.
There is a right time and a wrong time to pontificate on your personal beliefs about war and politics.
The comment section on an article honoring the ultimate sacrifice of a service member are an inappropriate place for such pontification.
Whether you agree with Ms. Brown's activities or not, please have the civility to respect the dead and the grieving family left behind.
There are many other outlets that would be appropriate for such discussion and debate.
Please find them and leave the dead to rest in peace.
So many of our troops lives and efforts have been wasted on our country's wars and occupations of other nations. The loss of this soldier is a needless tragedy like many others, in this 'vindictive war' with no end.
Statistically we are losing more troops to suicide than to the 'so called enemy' in a war that can never be won and is hurting us more than the enemy. Our government uses the sacrifice and valor of our troops as camoflage for what we have become as a nation
Wars are sometimes neccessary, yet we must remember that.... when fighting monsters a monster you may become.
Our troops are not brainwashed, but we are conditioned to accept certain false concepts to be true.
We are the good guys? yet fail to recall the fact that our military has killed far more innocent civilians by accident than the terrorists have killed on purpose.
Count the nations we have attacked and bombed in the name of peace....go ahead start with Yemen and work yourself up thru the alphabet to Hanoi, Hiroshima or Bagdad, Beruit or Berlin, keep going, we bomb far more than any other nation.
This nation is war addicted , if we did not have an enemy we would invent one to keep our outrageous military spending on track.
We live by the sword ourselves, yet claim others as evil, when they do the same.
We need to ask the question if they are terrorists then what are we? Our B52's, Smart bombs and Drones are definite weapons of terror. We are high tech terrorists being worn down by low tech terrorists in THEIR country. The USA does not own the world, we cannot even protect our own citizens on our own streets.
Over 15,000 Americans were killed by other Americans last year on our streets..we call that PEACE?
Perhaps our military needs to address the war at home and get out of nations that they cannot control.
We are not a Christian nation..we are a violent vindictive nation choking on our own mistakes at the cost of our troops.
We are our own worst enemy, a nation addicted to entertainment and glory yet stumbling into the future with no compass or vision.
Spreading freedom and democracy via the barrel of a gun equates to screwing virgins fot chastity.
There is no question as to how Americans would respond to a foreign force occupying America. Most would take up arms and defend their country.
Truth is, Tara was brain-washed at an early age to kill fellow human beings, as all basic trainees are. She was broken down and re-programed to follow orders, constitutional or otherwise. She is memorialized to inspire the next generation of foreign invaders and killers, so that the ruse may continue perpetually. America's foreign policy is about empire building and domination of the earth's resourses, both material and human.
Mali and Niger are next in Africa, as they have resources that the globalists covet.
War is among the most profitable enterprises the world has ever known. Turn off the MSM and get you news from the web to better understand Truth vs Propagander.
Memorial??...Americans are incapable of remembering the cost of their military misadventures. If they were Tara Brown would have never been sent to Afghanistan to begin with.
There was never a reason to have had any US troops in Afghanistan or Vietnam to begin with.
Honor and wave the flag all you want...our troops are not dying for our country at all, they are dying for the blunders of our corrupt reactionary government.
When will our army of occupation leave Afghanistan? Have we killed enough yet, have we died enough yet, have we spent enough yet?
The United States of America needs to wash off it's bloody hands and go home...just go home, we have killed enough of their people and our people and resolved absolutely nothing.
To the Pentagon and our government this young soldier was just another statistic, to her loved ones her death was a personal tradgedy that will not be forgotten nor should be.
PEACE....everyone claims to love it...too bad there is no money in it.
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