Benjamin D. Keating (31 May 1979-26 November 2006) was a US Army Captain who served in the US 61st Cavalry Regiment during the Afghanistan War. He died in a vehicular accident in 2006, and Combat Outpost Keating, the site of the 2009 Battle of Kamdesh, was named in his honor.
Biography[]
Keating's death
Benjamin D. Keating was born in Sanford, Maine on 31 May 1979, and he served as Chair of the Young Republicans at the University of New Hampshire and joined the ROTC program. Keating went on to join the US Army, and he taught Sunday School at the Springvale First Baptist Church and served on his local planning board from 2000 to 2002. Keating was deployed to Afghanistan in February 2006 as a newly-minted first lieutenant, and he rose to the rank of Captain and was awarded the Bronze Star while stationed at PRT Kamdesh. In 2006, he held a shura with the local elders of Nuristan Province and convinced them to surrender their weapons in exchange for money and infrastructure projects, securing peace for the time being. However, on 26 November 2006, he was killed while driving a large Medium Tactical Vehicle (LMTV) through the narrow mountain roads near the base; his vehicle fell off a cliff as his comrades Clint Romesha and Ty Michael Carter scouted ahead, and Keating was killed by the fall. PRT Kamdesh was renamed to "CO Keating" in Keating's honor.