Hometown: Chesapeake, VA
Branch: U.S. Army 
Unit: 3rd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, 1st Armored Division
Military Honors: Bronze Star with Combat V, Purple Heart
Date of Sacrifice: January 9, 2008 - KIA in Sinsil, Diyala Province, Iraq
Age: 30
Conflict: Iraq War, 2003-2011

He seemed destined to continue his family’s legacy of military service, and that was fine with him.

Jonathan Dozier was born on September 30, 1977. He and his father Carl, his mother Martha, and his sister Jennifer lived in Chesapeake, Virginia. Chesapeake is part of the Hampton Roads region, which boasts one of the largest concentrations of military installations and personnel in the world.

Jon’s great-grandfather, Joseph H. Dozier, fought in the Civil War. His grandfather, Wilbur “Red” Dozier, served with the Coast Guard in World War II’s Operation Torch. His father, Carl, spent 28 years with the Army National Guard and served during Operation Desert Storm, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel.

As a young boy, Jon loved to “play soldier” in the woods behind his home, according to his family. He decided early in life that being a soldier was what he wanted to do.

The family spent many weekends at North Carolina’s Outer Banks, where Jon loved to surf and swim. He attended Great Bridge Schools near Chesapeake and later, Fork Union Military Academy in central Virginia.

After high school, Dozier enlisted in the United States Army Reserve in 1997. He was sent to Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia.

When he completed basic training at Benning, Dozier was recognized with the “Soldier of the Cycle” award for his company—an honor given to the top-performing soldier in the Army Combat Fitness Test, basic rifle marksmanship, course scores, and leadership.

Dozier later completed Jump School, was Sniper Certified, and completed Phase I of Special Forces Qualification Course.

From 1998-1999, PFC Dozier was stationed at Camp Casey in Korea with the 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment. He returned stateside from 1999-2000 and was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

Dozier took a break from military service in 2000 to attend college. He first attended Virginia Commonwealth University but switched to Middle Tennessee State University, where he studied international affairs from 2001-2003. While there, he joined the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, where his dog, “Bo,” was the informal mascot.

Wanting to make a career of military service, Dozier reenlisted in the U.S. Army in April of 2005. Now with the rank of specialist, he trained as a sniper scout at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center & School, located at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

In 2005, Dozier met Amy Bunch. Amy lived in North Carolina but had family in the Chesapeake area and spent summers at nearby Virginia Beach. The two married in February 2006 and in December of that year welcomed a daughter, Emma.

Their early marriage was spent far apart, staying in touch by phone and email as frequently as military duties allowed. Dozier was assigned to the Army’s 3rd Squadron (“Wolfpack”), 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, 1st Armored Division, based in Vilseck, Germany.

He was deployed to Iraq with his regiment in August of 2007—just after the birth of his daughter and a month before his 30th birthday—in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He and his regiment were assigned to Multi-National Division-North, headquartered in the Iraqi city of Tikrit, 80 miles north of Baghdad.

On New Year’s Day, 2008, Dozier was promoted to the rank of staff sergeant. Eight days later, SSG Dozier’s regiment was part of a large mission involving about 4,000 U.S. and allied Iraqi troops. The campaign launched into Iraq’s Diyala Province to pursue Sunni insurgents hiding among civilians in towns and cities.

A Los Angeles Times article describes the scene encountered by SSG Dozier’s regiment in the rural village of Sinsil, 70 miles northeast of the capital of Baghdad:

…curious villagers gathered to watch soldiers from the 3rd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, roll in with their armored vehicles. Families greeted the troops with offers of tea and sodas as they went door-to-door searching for insurgents and weapons.

“There is no security,” one man told the soldiers, as he cradled his daughter in his arms. “We are afraid to go out, and we expect to be killed at any moment.”

Residents said they hadn’t seen masked gunmen who had been a common sight in their village before the offensive began. But the mayor warned that some insurgents still lurked among them.

U.S. commanders said they believed senior insurgent leaders had fled the region before the offensive, but that as many as 200 lower-level fighters could be hiding among the population.

On January 9, 2008, SSG Dozier and his team were checking a home that had been occupied by insurgents but cleared of hazards a week earlier.

The insurgents had apparently returned to booby-trap the building, and a massive explosion claimed the lives of six U.S. soldiers—including SSG Jonathan Dozier.

Also killed in the blast were SPC Todd Davis (30) of Raymore, Missouri; SSG Sean Gaul (29) of Reno, Nevada; SGT Zachary McBride (20) of Bend, Oregon; SFC Class Matthew Pionk (30), of Superior, Wisconsin; and SGT Christopher Sanders (22) of Roswell, New Mexico; as well as an Iraqi translator, Mohammed al Latefe. Four more soldiers were wounded in the blast.

Jon and Amy’s daughter, Emma, was 13 months old when Jon was lost. Amy recounts, “When Jon was in Iraq, he was given a little green notebook. I had seen these notebooks used previously for jotting down anything from phone numbers to battlefield strategies. What I didn’t know until after Jon was killed was that he had used the last few pages of his little green notebook to write ‘Things I want my child to know.’”

SSG Jonathan Kilian Dozier was laid to rest among his fellow soldiers, with full military honors, at Arlington National Cemetery (Section 60, Site 8727).

He was awarded a Bronze Star Medal with the Combat V and a Purple Heart Medal, and was posthumously promoted to the rank of sergeant first class.

Sources
Story details provided by Mrs. Amy Dozier, SFC Dozier’s Gold Star Wife
Travis Manion Foundation: Jonathan Dozier
Military Times—Honor the Fallen: Army Staff Sgt. Jonathan K. Dozier
2D Cavalry Association—The 2D Dragoon Memorial: Dozier, Jonathan Kilian
The Patriot All-America: Soldier Honored: Jonathan K. Dozier
Los Angeles Times, Jan. 10, 2008: Booby trap kills 6 U.S. soldiers
Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 2894: Staff Sergeant Jonathan Kilian Dozier
Daily Press (Newport News, Virginia), Jan. 12, 2008: Dad is left with letter from soldier son
The Jackson (Tennessee) Sun, Jan. 19, 2008: ‘He was a brave soldier’
Daily Press (Newport News, Virginia), Jan. 20, 2008: Hundreds gather to remember soldier
The Virginian-Pilot, Jan. 17, 2008, via Legacy.com: Jonathan Dozier
Burial Site: Find a Grave