Army Sgt. 1st Class Lance H. Vogeler

Died October 1, 2010 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

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29, of Frederick, Md.; assigned to 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Hunter Army Airfield, Ga.; died Oct.1 at Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained in Helmand, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked his unit with indirect fire.

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Sergeant could lead even in Boy Scouts, friends say

The Associated Press

Even as a young Boy Scout, Lance Vogeler had the makings of a leader, according to his childhood pals.

Ryan Heffner, in an e-mail to the Frederick (Md.) News-Post, recalled a trip to Cunningham Falls when he was 10 or 11 — Vogeler would have been 13 or 14 at the time. Some of the kids decided to climb a waterfall instead of taking the easy way around.

Heffner said he became unsteady on the rocks and feared he might fall, especially because the others had made it up. Vogeler was there to calm him down and pull him up to safer ground.

“He told me no matter what happened, he wouldn’t let me fall,” Heffner wrote.

Vogeler, 29, of Frederick was killed Oct. 1 in Bastion, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked his unit. He was assigned to Georgia’s Hunter Army Airfield. He was a graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School.

Vogeler had two children, 11-year-old Madison and 10-year-old Kyle, and he and wife Melissa is expecting a child.

As a high school student, Vogeler was fluent in sign language because his parents are deaf. That meant he had to translate during parent-teacher conferences, his French language teacher, Teresa Wilson, told the newspaper.

“You’re telling them exactly what I’m saying, aren’t you, Lance?” she would joke.

He would reply: “Oh, oui, madame.”

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Army Ranger from Maryland killed in Afghanistan

The Associated Press

FREDERICK, Md. — An Army Ranger from Maryland has been killed in combat in Afghanistan.

Army officials said 29-year-old Sgt. 1st Class Lance Herman Vogeler was killed Friday in a heavy firefight during combat operations in Afghanistan’s Helmand province. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment at Hunter Army Airfield in Georgia.

Vogeler was on his 12th deployment after seven previous deployments to Afghanistan and four deployments to Iraq.

The Frederick, Md., native enlisted in the U.S. Army in May 2001. He graduated from the Ranger training program later that year.

Vogeler was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star Medal and the Meritorious Service Medal.

He is survived by his wife, Melissa, and two children.