by Mike Hall, Jul 20, 2008

Master Sergeant Kenneth (Kenny) Mack

A Fort Worth, Texas, postal facility now bears the name of Marine Master Sgt. Kenneth Mack, a Postal Workers (APWU) member killed by a roadside bomb in May 2007 in Iraq’s Anbar province.

Mack was an automotive technician at the Fort Worth Vehicle Maintenance Facility. He had joined the Marines not long after graduating from high school in 1984. He began working for the U.S. Postal Service in 1988.

Last year, when the resolution—introduced by Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas)—to rename the Altamesa Boulevard facility for Mack, was on the House floor, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) said:

I think it bears underlining how much of the armed services of the United States today is made up of the post office, civil servants, first responders, often needed at home, but always willing to go where their country needs them.

The resolution was signed into law in May.

It was Mack’s second tour of duty in Iraq as a member of the Marine Reserve assigned to Camp Lejeune’s (N.C.) Second Marine Expeditionary Force in Carolina. His brother Robert told CBS News 11:

He didn’t mind one bit. He wanted to go. He loved being in the military. He felt like it was his duty to go back.

In the same news story, Peggy, his wife of 16 years, told the Dallas TV station:

He was all about family. He made sure we did things together….It was always a goal in his life to be a mentor in some way, not only to his children, and the children in the neighborhood, but all children.

In September 2005, Des Moines Register reporter John Carlson rode with Mack on a dangerous convoy mission on a route where several roadside explosives had hit the previous night’s convoy. When Carlson heard of Mack’s death, he revisited that night in a column.

It was the longest 45 miles you’d ever want to drive, along a nasty piece of road in Anbar province, and Mack was in charge of the thing.

Five IEDs hit a convoy on this highway the night before, and Mack was told he could count on the same thing happening this night in September 2005.

It was a maddeningly slow drive to Ramadi….It was a total blackout. No headlights; no moon. Marines watched the road and countryside through night-vision goggles….Mack was on the radio constantly, making sure the trucks were properly spaced, telling his guys to watch for bumps and holes along the road that might hide bombs. There was no attack that night. We made it to Ramadi.

I went away knowing that I’d met a fine leader and that no soldier or Marine could do more to make his people safe. It was more than being tough. Mack was serious and absolutely professional, the kind of guy you would want taking care of your kid in a combat zone.

You can read Carlson’s full column on the Marine community website Leatherneck and his 2005 story here.

Along with his wife and brother, Mack is survived by three daughters and a son.

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