A new military report that faults four Army officers in the 2009 deaths of a Tucson soldier and his comrades is of little comfort to the local soldier's sister.
"It's not going to bring him back," Amber Gallegos, 26, said Friday of her sibling, Sgt. Justin Gallegos, who died in a raging firefight in Afghanistan - a battle his unit had no chance of winning, an investigation found.
"My brother's death is hard every day," Amber Gallegos said.
The report's findings "don't change the ultimate end fact that he's gone."
Justin Gallegos, 27, was one of eight soldiers killed -22 others were wounded- when hundreds of insurgents overran their remote combat outpost days before it was to be shut down.
The military's report on the October 2009 incident - one of the war's deadliest clashes - found inaction by higher-ups was a major factor. Gallegos' chain of command failed to act on intelligence received weeks beforehand that a large number of enemy forces was assembling and preparing to attack, the report said.
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The base, because it was closing, also wasn't properly fortified with barriers and other protections. That left Gallegos and fellow soldiers unable to effectively defend themselves when insurgents swarmed in at dawn with rocket-propelled grenades, guns and mortars.
Amber Gallegos said the months since her brother's death have been a blur of grief and loss.
Their mother, Josefina "Yolanda" Heideman, died less than a year after he did.
Heideman, 55, had leukemia but had been in remission before her son was killed in action, Amber Gallegos said. After that, their mom went downhill and never recovered, she said.
Justin Gallegos attended Tucson High Magnet School from 1996 to 2000, then transferred as a senior to Aztec Middle College and graduated there.
He enlisted in 2002 and was on his third combat tour when he died. He'd been injured twice before in Iraq, and earned three Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and a posthumous promotion to staff sergeant.
He was divorced and had one child, a son, MacAidan, who was 5 at the time of his father's death.
At his funeral, comrades described Justin Gallegos as a fearless man who often volunteered for challenging assignments. He worked as a scout scoping out hostile terrain, as a tank crew member, a gunner on armed Humvees and as a bodyguard to high-ranking officers.
The Army "was his life," his sister said.
"It's not going to bring him back. My brother's death is hard every day."
Amber Gallegos
Justin Gallegos' sister
Contact reporter Carol Ann Alaimo at calaimo@azstarnet.com or at 573-4138.
