ITT employee (formerly KBR) Luis Draco killed in Iraq
Luis Draco formerly KBR IT and currently ITT recently died at the hands of cowardly terrorists. Cowards who lob mortars and rockets (aka Indirect Fire-IDF) into camps congested with unarmed civilians. I lost a friend this way in the Green Zone. I can’t think of anything else so cowardly! C3 Warhorse is located approximately 35-45 miles northeast of Baghdad on Baquba Airfield.
Here’s the email sent out announcing the Memorial
From: (name edited)
Sent: Tuesday, January 26, 2010 10:57 AM
Subject: Memorial service for Luis Draco
Importance: HighThere will be a memorial service for Luis Draco Thursday January 28th at (edited). The memorial service will be located at the (edited). (I have edited out the exact time and location of this memorial in an effort to not give those cowards the time and location of another target. Anyone who needs this exact information has access to it.)
Luis Draco began working for KBR in February 2004 in Document Controls on Camp Liberty and Taji. In May 2005, Luis departed the LOGCAP III project to complete his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. Luis returned to the LOGCAP III project July 2007 as a member of the KBR IT family where he worked in the Desktop Support office and the Network office. Luis was one of the most high spirited members of IT, always laughing, full of jokes and he would be there for you when you needed him. In September 2009 Luis went to work for ITT and was assigned to C1 Speicher. Luis Draco passed away on January 23rd of injuries suffered from an IDF attack at C3 Warhorse. Luis Draco will always be apart of the KBR IT family, one of the best friends a person could have and he will never be forgotten. We miss you Luis!
(name edited)
(name edited)
Kellogg, Brown & Root, Inc.
Camp Liberty – Baghdad, Iraq
My heartfelt condolences go out the Luis Draco’s friends, family and co-workers. He sounds like someone I would have enjoyed working with.
Ms Sparky
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Thursday, January 28th 2010 at 10:44 am |
I worked with Luis from July 2007 to November 2007 in KBR IT. He was a great guy and would do anything to help you out. He will be missed. RIP.
bash
Thursday, January 28th 2010 at 3:54 pm |
I express my deepest sympathy to Mr. Draco’s family and friends. I hope and pray that AIG/AIU Holdings/Chartis doesn’t treat this family like they treat everyone else when a DBA claim is filed.
Wednesday, February 3rd 2010 at 4:42 pm |
Luis Draco was a very good friend of mine and I will never forget him.
Honor Luis by letting your readers know what a great man he was.
Luis Draco always befriended everyone. He developed a personal relationship with his co-workers, talking to them, laughing with them and mostly planning jokes on them. Whether it was calling you on the phone pretending that he was an upset customer that you had helped or changing your computer’s wall paper to a picture of David Hasselhoff in a bikini. Luis would make you laugh through other people. Luis introduced our Foreign National family members to his love of music. Getting our Subcontract workers to sing songs like Madonna’s Like a Virgin while he recorded them and teaching them the latest American slang. When a Nepali man walks up to you and says, “Hey brother can I borrow some greenbacks, I’ll hit you up at the end of the month”. You immediately burst into laughter and you know right away Luis taught them that. Luis loved to have a good time and he made sure that those around him enjoyed every moment as well.
Luis loved 80’s music…when riding in the Tahoe with him; he had a routine that he never strayed away from. He would place two bottles of frozen water on the dashboard, check to see if there were Crystal Light Iced Tea packets in the vehicle, sign the vehicle dispatch and setup his iPod to the 80’s greatest hits. As you sat in the Tahoe with him, no matter where you went you knew you were going to hear at least one Blonde song and hoped not to hear a Boy George song again…Luis even had theme songs from the Bandit, the Jefferson’s and the “A’ Team on his iPod. Riding in the vehicle with him was no ordinary ride. You needed to be prepared to answer trivia questions. Luis would say, Dejan, what movie is this song in? Most of the time the answer was “Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise or Beverly Hills Cops.
Luis was also a very technical and professional when it came to his job. You could give him a project to complete and not have to worry about it. Every project met its scheduled completion date and the quality of work was top notch.
I remember Luis returning from R&R when he was still working for KBR IT with one of the biggest smiles on his face. He had just purchased a home in California at a great price. The other reason his smile was so big is because he was going to share this home with the love of his life. Luis recently got engaged to Kathy. Luis and his fiancé Kathy were preparing to bring their two families together as one.
There will be many questions left unanswered. Why did Luis have to go? Why did he have to pass in the manner that he did? Why does a little girl that is already growing up without her mother; now has to grow up without her father too? Why did everything that was going so well for Luis come to a tragic end? Those questions we may never get the answers to or understand. The only thing left to do is pray for his daughter, his fiance and do what we can to help them. Knowing right now there may be no words to comfort them, yet we must continue to encourage them the best way we can. Be there for them, let them know we are thinking of them and praying that God will bring them comfort and give them peace.
What can we learn from Luis’s life? Live your life to the fullest, enjoy the friends you have around you and let your family & friends know how much you care about them.
Even though our brother is gone, his has left us with memories that will never fade with time. And when you think back on those memories they will create smiles that will last a life time.
Wednesday, February 10th 2010 at 1:21 pm |
As some my note, Luis was a former Navy man and veteran. I’m happy to pass this altered mail message along so people will know his past service was recognized in honor of his sacrifice.
Vaya con Dios, amigo.
On 2/8/10 9:06 AM, “X” wrote:
All,
I was given the honor of representing our organization as Luis Draco’s remains were repatriated at Dover AFB DE on 01 Feb 2010.
Mr. Draco was provided full military ceremonial honors.
His casket was covered with a US Flag, carried by an Honor Guard detail.
A very professional Family Support staff supported and comforted Luis’ loved ones before, during & after the ceremony.
I will attend Luis’ Mass and Funeral in El Paso on behalf of our organization.
The details we’ve been provided regarding Luis’ services follow.
Monday Feb 8- Viewing 4:00pm and Rosary at 7:00pm – (Tentative)
Tuesday Feb 9 Mass – 1:00pm with burial with Military Honors at Fort Bliss Cemetery at 2:30pm.
Sincerely,
XXXX
Thursday, February 11th 2010 at 4:14 am |
What do I say about you Luis? There are hardly any words that can describe him just many tears from all of us. The pain we feel and the memories we have of him.
The ones that never met Luis but maybe have heard of him need to know that he was a great guy and truly one of kind.
Luis, I never thought this day would come that I would have to talk about your time on this world and the friendship I had with you. Where do I begin where do I start. We did a few projects together while with KBR and switched companies around the same time. When I got this job we kept saying that you were going to come over and be like the KBR family TAKING OVER, the 3 of us D**** you and me.
Picking you up from the airport after ATO you were glowing and we talk like school kids all the way back to camp about your time home with the family. The Details of When you pop the question to your Fiancée and the joys of seeing the kids running around in their new home that you just bought. You were a change man after that short time home and ready to get married and have more mini Luis Running around. You saw the end of this contract coming and it was suppose to be this spring.
All the times we all ate Lunch/dinner together or had our famous F1 BBQs due to F***’s awesome cooking. We never talked about work just life and memories of home. Being around him you forget that you are in Iraq it feels more like home, being surrounded by good friends and feeling safe. Off time was never about work with Luis or for that matter Work was an opening for more pranks and laughs. All the crawling and working outside in the heat was fun and was a pleasure doing it with the IT FAMILY. Luis never left the shop with at least 9 bottle of SOLID ICE water and packets of Peach-tea crystal light. If you didn’t like it you grew to love it.
Just thought of a story when someone backed their truck into a warehouse door, the pole in the back of the truck left a huge peep hole and got stuck. I Promise I won’t mention any names but you know who you are. This Person was more worried about Luis finding out then about the damage and maybe his job (That he didn’t need to worry about). He was more worried about Luis joking him and not letting it go. Lucky for him Luis was already in the regions when He got back from ATO. For the record I told Luis the story of what happen and showed him proof, He was laughing so hard and joking about that person.
I know you have heard never to leave your laptop unlocked just in case someone gets on and sends out emails from your address. IT sometimes slips up and I am one of them that have. I just learned to do it around Luis just ends bad. The only reason I did it was because they were listening to music while I was out doing tickets. He played a few pranks on me with that one and I believe D**** and J*** were in on the emails sent out. Sad but true M**** and I were the victims in those silly emails sent out. He also named all my Computer Drives a nick name that he gave. CRAZY S****. SO NOW EVERYTHING I PLUG IN WILL HAVE THAT NAME. Thumb drives Hard-drives and maybe even printers.
I remember one day I had a call on the radio from him. Saying it was an emergency to meet him and D**** at DCMA. I was running around trying to find my keys or a ride. Thinking the top client had an IT outage. I finally get there just to find these two with their feet propped up on the dash both laughing at me. Just to let you know I had a little Tonka truck with no AC that drove about 25miles per hour. Luis is laughing and looks at me saying oh umm we have car problems the truck won’t start and we need to use your phone at the office. So after feeling silly and then finding them chilling I made Luis drive my toy truck back to my site as payback. So funny watching both of them being over six foot trying to fit in my truck, they had to bend down just get in. Luis’s knees were to the steering wheel and both their heads to the roof. TMP came to meet us at the truck just to find out those silly guys ran out of gas. Not to mention that was the first of 3 times they did it. I guess on his defense we are IT, WE FIX COMPUTERS NOT CHECK GAS BEFORE DRIVING.
Luis you will be missed and not a day will go by that you won’t be remember. We will hold on tight and never forget the memories and stories that will keep his spirit alive for his family and everyone that loved him. You live through us now Draco and we will not let you down I promise you that. I LOVE YOU BUDDY AND BE MISSING YOU ALWAYS.