By Jeremy Z. Young

An East Tennessee family was expecting to welcome their son home next week as the Army’s 173rd Airborne Brigade returns from Afghanistan.

Their hopes and wishes were realized in the worst way July 14 when Army officers knocked on their door and told them of an attack just one day earlier. They were told that Spc. Jason Hovater, 24, was killed in the line of duty.

Kathy and Gerald Hovater, of Lake City, were given brief details about an attack against American troops that took nine lives, including their son’s.

Hovater, described as a man of faith, grew up in a religious family in Lake City. They sang together, prayed together and stayed in close communication with one another.

Hovater had taken several missionary trips outside the United States in an effort to spread his faith.

In December 2006, just six weeks before he would be deployed to Afghanistan, Jason married his childhood best friend, Jenna Renae.

Jenna had planned to surprise Jason by flying to the base in Italy to meet  Jason and his fellow-soldiers, as they were scheduled to return to safety there this weekend.

The deadliest attack on Americans in three years in this war-riddled country, roughly 200 militants were armed with machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar shells. The rebels suffered heavy casualties when they forced their way into a newly established base in eastern Afghanistan, but not before killing nine Americans and wounding at least 15 others.
A fierce fire fight and use of U.S. warplanes lasted for hours before the rebels were finally driven into retreat. The attack led

U.S. and Afghan forces to abandon the remote outpost.

Family members of at least two of the soldiers say it was their last week in Afghanistan, and most likely, this would’ve been their last mission before rotating back to a base in Italy.

The paratroopers killed in the attack were members of a platoon from the Chosen Company. Those soldiers were:

•1st Lt. Jonathan Brostom
•Sgt. Isreal Garcia
•Spc. Pruit Rainey
•Spc. Jonathan Ayers
•Spc. Matthew Phillips
•Spc. Jason Bogar
•Spc. Sergio Abad
•Spc. Gunnar Zwillig
•Spc. Jason Hovater.

Chosen Company has suffered many casualties on their second tour of Afghanistan, with a total of 15 killed. Five of the other six killed, died in a deadly RPG-filled ambush in Nov. 2007.

The 173rd ABCT has had 42 members killed in action since they landed in eastern Afghanistan in April 2007. In that same time period, officials say attacks in that region of the country have escalated more than 50 percent.

This assault shows how Islamic militants seem to be gaining strength near the Pakistan border.

Before abandoning the outpost, soldiers armed local police with more than 20 guns. However, reports indicate that the police officers fled the village when at least 100 militants returned to the area.

When Anderson County officials learned of the loss of one of their own, the courthouse flag was lowered to half-mast.
Funeral arrangements for Hovater have yet to be completed.