Master Sergeant Anthony Ray Charles Yost was born on October 9, 1966, in Flint, Michigan. Tony, who was proud of his Apache heritage, enlisted in the Army in May 1987 after discovering that college alone was not enough for him. He dreamed of becoming a sniper and a Special Forces team sergeant, or team “daddy,” as he liked to say. He trained as an armor crewman at Fort Knox, Kentucky. His early assignments took him to Fort Lewis in Washington, Fort Bliss in Texas and South Korea.
In 1993 Tony graduated from the Special Forces Qualification Course and joined the 2nd Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne), at Fort Carson, Colorado, as a weapons sergeant. Through hard work and determination he achieved every goal he had set: he became a sniper, earned his jump wings and qualified in High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) parachuting. He was so proud of his HALO qualification that anyone invited to dinner could expect to watch his jump videos. After eight years with the 10th Group, he was assigned in 2001 to the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where he spent four years as a senior weapons instructor training the men he called his “SF babies.”
In March 2005 Tony became team sergeant of Operational Detachment Alpha 381, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne). He deployed to Iraq on Mother’s Day 2005, proud to lead and mentor a team doing the job he had trained for years to do. In the early morning of November 19, 2005, in northeastern Mosul, Iraqi police and soldiers of the 172nd Stryker Brigade were locked in a fierce fight with heavily armed insurgents holding a house. Tony assembled his detachment and Iraqi Army soldiers it had trained and volunteered to lead the assault. He led his Iraqi soldiers through the house room by room and eliminated the insurgents inside, but as he consolidated his force a hidden demolition charge exploded, mortally wounding him and several of the Iraqi soldiers with him. He was 39, with 18 and a half years of service, 14 of them in Special Forces.
Tony was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for leading from the front, the Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart. His other awards include the Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Achievement Medal, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Special Forces Tab and the Military Free Fall Parachutist Badge. He rests at Arlington National Cemetery. On June 26, 2015, the Special Forces weapons sergeant training facility at Fort Bragg was named the MSG Anthony R.C. Yost Weapons Training Facility, a fitting honor for a man who loved guns, Special Forces and teaching.
Away from duty Tony completed a gunsmithing course at Montgomery Community College in North Carolina and planned to open his own shop, Apache Gunworks, near Fort Bragg after retirement. He loved riding his 1998 custom Harley-Davidson Fat Boy, often in community poker runs that raised money for good causes, and he loved to skydive. Kind, hardworking and loving, with a charming bad-boy edge, Tony lived hard, worked hard and loved even harder. He is survived by his wife, Joann, and his children, Anthony, Cheyenne and Donovan.
Tony lived hard, worked hard and loved even harder. He was immensely proud to be a HALO jumper, team sergeant and mentor to his Special Forces brotherhood.
Family & Teammates of MSG Anthony R.C. Yost
Sources
- Military Times Hall of Valor: Anthony Yost (Silver Star citation and narrative)
- ARSOF History: Master Sergeant Anthony R. C. Yost
- GlobalSecurity.org: DoD Identifies Army Casualty (Nov. 21, 2005)
- Family-provided records on file with MVF: Anthony Yost bio
