'LIKE A NIGHTMARE':Family Mourns Diplomat, 25, Killed in Afghanistan

• 

  This image made from AP video shows the scene moments after a car bomb exploded in front the PRT, Provincial Reconstruction Team, in Qalat, Zabul province, southern Afghanistan, Saturday, April 6, 2013. Six American troops and civilians and an Afghan doctor were killed in attacks on Saturday in southern and eastern Afghanistan as the U.S. military's top officer began a weekend visit to the country, officials said.(AP Photo via AP video)The Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan –  A young U.S. diplomat killed in an attack in southern Afghanistan was an up-and-coming public servant who loved working directly with Afghan residents, those who knew her said Sunday.

Anne Smedinghoff, a 25-year-old foreign service officer, died Saturday when the group she was traveling with was struck by an explosion in southern Zabul province. They were en route to traveling to donate textbooks to students.

The Chicago-area woman is the first American diplomat to die on the job since last year's attack on the U.S. diplomatic installation in Benghazi, Libya.

Those who knew Smedinghoff described her as a positive, hard-working and dependable young woman.

While a student at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, she worked part time for Sam Hopkins, an attorney near campus. He described her as ambitious "but in a wonderfully quiet modest way."

Anne Smedinghoff's parents said in an emailed statement to The Washington Post that their daughter joined the foreign service straight out of college. But she had showed an early interest in foreign affairs and was one of the key organizers of the university's annual Foreign Affairs Symposium in 2008, a weekslong event that brings high-profile speakers to campus.

"She was an exceptional woman," said Hopkins, who kept in touch with Smedinghoff over the years. "Capable, gracious, and she would just rise up to the top."

Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday at a news conference in Turkey that Smedinghoff was "vivacious, smart" and "capable." Smedinghoff had assisted Kerry during a visit to Afghanistan two weeks ago.

Kerry also described Smedinghoff as "a selfless, idealistic woman who woke up yesterday morning and set out to bring textbooks to school children, to bring them knowledge."

Tom and Mary Beth Smedinghoff said that their daughter died doing what she loved.

"Working as a public diplomacy officer, she particularly enjoyed the opportunity to work directly with the Afghan people and was always looking for opportunities to reach out and help to make a difference in the lives of those living in a country ravaged by war," they said in the statement.

Smedinghoff previously served in Venezuela.

Friends also praised her for her charity work. Smedinghoff participated in a 2009 cross-country bike ride for The 4K for Cancer -- part of the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults -- according to Hopkins and the group's website.

"She was smiling all the time," Hopkins said.

View the original article here

Documentary 'MURPH: The Protector' tells true story of hero soldier in Afghanistan

• 

LOS ANGELES –  It’s not your typical Hollywood fare, but “MURPH: The Protector” is bound to tug at every heartstring.

This new feature-length documentary tells the emotional, true life tale of fallen U.S. Navy SEAL Lt. Michael Murphy, a young serviceman who gave his life to save his brothers in combat during a 2005 operation in Afghanistan. Patched together by personal memories voiced from those closest to him, the film paints a picture of a hero far beyond Tinseltown’s fictionalized accounts.

“There is a lack of family-safe material that shows the good side of man,” director Scott Mactavish told FOX411’s Pop Tarts column. “I hope viewers have a greater appreciation of the sacrifices made not only by the troops, but of those made by their friends and family back home. SEALs aren’t comic book characters. They are real men with families, friends and lives outside the military. They come in all shapes and sizes, but are all incredibly driven and committed.”

Fondly referred to by his peers and loved ones as “Murph,” the New York-raised, Penn State graduate declined law school offers to instead serve his country. In 2005, Lt. Murphy was put in-charge of a four-man SEAL element in support of Operation Red Wing, tasked with finding important anti-coalition militia commander. While in the objective area, the SEALs were detected by goat herders and an intense gun battle was soon ignited with a much larger enemy force. Realizing that it was impossible to make contact with headquarters while firing back from the protection of mountain terrain, Murphy unhesitatingly moved out into prime target view so he could use his satellite device and call in help for his team.

While continuing to be fired upon, as detailed in “MURPH: The Protector,” Murphy made contact with the SOF Quick Reaction Force and provided his unit’s location. A shot in the back caused him to fall and drop the transmitter, and yet he picked it back up and calmly completed the call as the enemy -- and its weaponry -- closed in.

“Roger that, sir,” were his final words once he had given all the necessarily details. “And thank you.”

Murphy’s selfless act attracted great attention at the time, and he was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in 2007. But turning the moving account into a motion picture proved no easy task.

“This story is incredibly compelling and therefore easy to tell,” Mactavish explained. “But as a non-Hollywood guy, fundraising was incredibly difficult.”

Yet if all goes well during the film’s theatrical run, the filmmakers hope to finalize a deal to make the movie available on military bases, in addition to a foreign distribution deal. A portion of the proceeds from the film will go to Lt. Michael P. Murphy Memorial Scholarship Foundation, which was formed by his family after his death in 2005.

But above all, the forces behind the film simply hope that audiences gain a deeper understanding of who we should really be revering here in America.

“It is nice in this age of the generating of celebrities and people that have contributed nothing to this world, that someone like Michael Murphy, someone who is such a ridiculously, unbelievable individual, now has people looking up to him,” one of his friends says in the documentary. “He is the type of person people should look up to, and that they should name things after.”

“MURPH: The Protector” premieres at select Regal Entertainment Group Theaters on Friday, March 22nd.

MURPH: The Protector - Official Trailer [HD] from Mactavish Pictures on Vimeo.

View the original article here