Sergeant First Class Tyler Milam Westbrook was born on May 12, 1984, in Marietta, Ohio, to Daniel Robert and Marcia Milam Westbrook, and grew up across the Ohio River in Williamstown, West Virginia. He graduated with honors from Williamstown High School in 2002 as a Promise Scholarship recipient and was one of the finest athletes the school had produced. He began wrestling at the age of four, compiled a career record of 116 wins and 27 losses and won a state championship at 152 pounds. On the football field he was team captain and an all-conference defensive back, and in 2001 he set a national record by blocking four punts in consecutive games. He also competed in the pole vault, long jump and relays.
Tyler earned a bachelor’s degree in sports management from West Virginia University in 2006, graduating magna cum laude, and remained a devoted Mountaineers fan. In July 2007 he enlisted in the Army as a cannon crewmember. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment at Fort Bragg, and three weeks after reporting he joined his unit in Iraq, where he served from March to July 2008.
Tyler then volunteered for Special Forces Assessment and Selection. He graduated from the Special Forces Weapons Sergeant Course as the Distinguished Honor Graduate and completed the Special Forces Qualification Course in 2010. As a Green Beret he served with Company C, 2nd Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Fort Carson, Colorado, first as a weapons sergeant and sniper with ODA 0231 and later as an assaulter with ODA 0236. He deployed to Iraq from December 2010 to July 2011, completed a Joint Combined Exchange Training event in Malawi and deployed three times to Germany with the U.S. Africa Command Crisis Response Force. His training included Special Forces Sniper School, the Special Operations Command Jumpmaster Course and the Special Forces Advanced Reconnaissance, Target Analysis and Exploitation Techniques Course.
His awards include the Meritorious Service Medal, four Army Commendation Medals, the Army Achievement Medal, the Meritorious Unit Commendation, two Army Good Conduct Medals, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Special Forces Tab, the Parachutist Badge and the Combat Infantryman Badge.
On August 28, 2015, at the age of 31, Tyler lost his battle with post-traumatic stress. His family and the Memorial Valor Foundation share his story openly as a reminder that for many who serve, the war does not end when they come home. Hundreds gathered for his funeral in the Williamstown High School gymnasium, and he was buried with full military honors at Riverview Cemetery. The Tyler Milam Westbrook Scholarship Fund, established through the Parkersburg Area Community Foundation, carries his name forward for young people in the community that raised him.
Tyler is survived by his wife Heather Tyler Westbrook and their son Milam Grant Westbrook of Colorado Springs, his parents, his brothers Waylon and William, his grandmother Norma Westbrook and a large extended family in Williamstown and elsewhere.
SFC Tyler Westbrook lost his battle with post-traumatic stress, a reminder that even after returning home our war is not over.
Memorial Valor Foundation
Sources
- Cawley & Peoples Funeral Homes: Sergeant First Class Tyler Milam Westbrook obituary
- The Marietta Times: Last ride home (Sept. 2015)
- Parkersburg Area Community Foundation: Tyler Milam Westbrook Scholarship Fund
- News and Sentinel: Scholarship set to honor Green Beret
- Family-provided records on file with MVF: Tyler Westbrook bio
