A Marine from Lynch Station was killed Friday in Afghanistan when a local police officer turned against his instructors, his sister-in-law said.
Staff Sgt. Greg Copes was involved in training Afghan police officers, said Elizabeth Copes. She said as part of the training, the new officers got a rifle. She said when the man got his rifle, he turned it on Copes and another man, who was identified by the Marine Corps Times as Hospitalman 1st Class Darrel Enos.
She said Marines then killed the Afghan policeman.
The incident happened in the western part of Afghanistan in the Farah province.
Copes, 36, was in MarSOC, a special operations unit. According to the Marine Corps Times, both Copes and Enos were with the 3rd Marine Special Operations Battalion based out of Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Copes, who grew up in Lynch Station, had been in the Marines more than eight years and was scheduled to be stateside early in September.
Asked how the family is dealing with the loss, Elizabeth Copes, reached Monday night, said the tears and the grieving “kind of comes and goes.”
“As long as they’re busy, they’re functioning. … I know this family. They lean on each other. … They draw strength from each other.”
She said Copes’ body was returned to the United States Monday and will be released to Finch & Finch in Altavista Friday or Saturday. She said no definite arrangements have been made, but a funeral service will likely be held the first part of next week.
Copes graduated from Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, went to Central Virginia Community College for two years and earned a business degree from Longwood University in 1999.
He worked at Carter Machinery on U.S. 29 near Lynchburg before going into the Marines in 2003.
Elizabeth Copes said her brother-in-law was the oldest Marine in his basic training class. She said the younger recruits called him “old man.”
According to the Marine Corps Times, Copes joined as a machine gunner and became a critical skills operator with MarSOC in 2009. He had deployed for training missions in Mauritania, Malaysia and Indonesia.
“He was always the type if he found something he loved, he gave it his all. He was very dedicated,” Elizabeth Copes said. She said her brother-in-law loved being a Marine.
She said “dedicated” is the word that describes Greg Copes, whether it was to the Marines or his family.
Copes is survived by his wife and four young children, two girls and two boys. The family lived in the Camp Lejeune area.
“He was a great, great dad,” Elizabeth Copes said. She recalled him playing tea party with his girls. She said he’d wrestle and play with the children.
Other survivors include his dad, stepmom, two brothers, two sisters and lots of nieces and nephews. His mother, Audrey Copes, is deceased.
“He was a good guy,” Elizabeth Copes said. “Everybody looked up to him.”
The Marine Corps Times reported Copes and Enos were killed in what is called a “green-on-blue attack,” in which members of the Afghan National Security Forces kill the coalition forces sent to train them. Eight Marines and corpsmen have been killed by suspected turncoat Afghan troops in a week, the publication said.