Phillip T Esposito

West Point, 1997

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by COL Gordon B. Davis Jr. on June 20, 2005:

I was quite saddened to hear of the death of CPT Esposito last week. I worked with him for several months at Fort Drum where he trained in preparation for his deployment to Iraq. As Commander, 2/78 TSB, I was responsible for training of the 42nd Infantry Division Staff (42 ID) and Division Base units at Fort Drum before they deployed to Iraq last year. CPT Esposito was a stand out as the Division HHC Commander and a young company grade leader in the Rainbow Division. He was the one of the two best company commanders I came across in 42 ID and was an absolute pleasure to work with. He was mature, composed, always out front and leading his disparate and constantly growing company. He always had a great attitude. Had he not been the outstanding commander he was, his Soldiers (over 300 total including more than a 100 officers) would not have executed all their individual and collective training requirements nor taken advantage of the wide variety of specialty training offered across the continental United States. Early on in the 42 ID?s training I recognized CPT Esposito with a Brigade Coin ? he was only one of two captains I coined in the six months 42 ID trained at Fort Drum. I didn?t know until today that he was a West Point graduate. My Area of Operations in Iraq is between Ramadi, Fallujah, Samarra and all of Baghdad. I was in Fallujah when I heard of CPT Esposito?s death. Had I been closer to Tikrit last week, I would have surely attended his memorial service. My sincerest condolences to his family, classmates and friends. Respectfully, Skip Davis ?81 COL Gordon B. (Skip) Davis, Jr. Cdr, PO Div SPTT (Cdr, 2/78 TSB) CPATT/MNSTC-I (FOB Shield) APO AE 09316 Patriots! gordon.davis@us.army.mil gordon.davis1@us.army.smil.mil Thuraya: + 882-166-660-5197 MCI: 914-822-2359 Iraqna: 0790-193-2510 DPN: 07340-1231

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