Army Sgt. 1st Class Charles M. Sadell

Died October 24, 2010 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

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34, of Columbia, Mo.; assigned to 1st Squadron, 71st Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.; died Oct. 24 at National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Md., of wounds suffered Oct. 5 at Arif Kala, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked his unit using an improvised explosive device.

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Fort Drum soldier found his direction in Army

The Associated Press

Charles Sadell was just out of Missouri’s Harrisburg High School in 1995 when he enlisted in the Army. A family friend told station KBIA that Sadell, known as “CJ” to his friends, was searching for direction.

He found it, along with a lengthy and decorated career that took him from his home in Columbia, Mo., to Saudi Arabia, Kosovo, Germany, Iraq and most recently to Afghanistan, where he was deployed this spring.

An avid outdoorsman who loved to spend time hunting, fishing and nailing balls on a golf course, the 34-year-old intelligence analyst married Kristin Dawn McMillan in 1999. The couple have two sons, Cameron and Hunter. They lived in Weston, Mo.

“He was just a very stand-up guy,” the friend, Kristen Adams told KBIA Radio. “He was very respectful. He was a great husband, an amazing father; just an all-around great guy. Everyone that met him just fell in love with him because he was just a charmer.”

Sadell was hurt Oct. 5 when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device in Arif Kala, Afghanistan. He died Oct. 24 at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. He was assigned to Fort Drum, N.Y.