DOB/DOD: March 1, 1964 (Waterbury, CT) – December 29, 2009; 45 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Married Betty J. Collier (1959-).
CHILDREN: Stepdaughter, Kandice S. Collier Presley (1985-2011).
LOCAL ADDRESS: Sherman Avenue; Waterbury
ENLISTMENT: October 5, 1993
MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY: 91C; Practical Nurse
UNIT: 274th Forward Surgical Team, 44th Medical Command; Fort Bragg, North Carolina
FAMILY: Born to James A. Sr. (1930-2020) and Rita A. Spino (1934-). Two brothers, James A. Jr. (1952-) and Glen J. (1953-). One sister, Marianne (1954-)
DECORATIONS: Awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal with device, Army Achievement Medal with device, Army Good Conduct Medal with device, National Defense Service Medal with device, Afghanistan Campaign Medal with two devices, Iraq Campaign Medal with device, Global War on Terrorism Medal (Expeditionary), Global War On Terrorism Medal (Service), Korean Defense Service Medal, Army NCO Professional Development Ribbon with “2” device, Army Service Medal, Army Overseas Service Medal with “4” device, NATO ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) Medal – Afghanistan, Parachutist Badge (Basic), Rifle Marksman Badge, and the Medical Badge.
CIRCUMSTANCES: Staff Sergeant Spino was killed by an Afghan soldier who also wounded two Italians when he opened fire at a base in Bala Morghab. The Afghan soldier was captured and would be tried in a military court, the result of which is unknown.
Holy Cross High School (Waterbury, CT) Class of 1982. He was also a graduate of Post University (Waterbury, CT) Class of 1986. A photo was not available.
From the Waterbury Republican-American on December 24, 2010
Four days after Christmas last year, a man and a woman in impeccable U.S. Army uniforms knocked on Betty Collier-Spino’s door in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
Collier-Spino is a U.S. Army sergeant, now retired. At the time, it was her job to notify military families when a loved one had died. Still, every military family knows to dread a visit from two people in “Class A greens.”
Collier-Spino was told her husband of 16 years — Army Sergeant Ronald Spino — had been shot in the back by a Taliban insurgent as he unloaded a helicopter at a base in Afghanistan.
Over the past year, a different, somewhat more heroic picture has emerged of the last moments for Spino, a Waterbury native. An Army investigation and chance meetings between Spino’s family and his Army comrades at memorial events have created a new narrative.
Spino “saved the lives of many U.S. and coalition forces,” according to an Army report cited by a Spino family member.
A heavily redacted version released to the Republican-American under a Freedom of Information Act request does not include this assertion. Army public affairs officers referred questions to Spino’s outfit, the 274th Forward Surgical Team. Army Major Evonne Heib and Captain Yolanda T. Benson confirmed Spino’s last brave moments.
Spino and a group of soldiers were unloading a helicopter at Forward Operating Base Todd in Bala Morgdab when an Afghanistan National Army soldier approached and leveled his rifle at them.
Muhammad Saleh chambered a round into his AK-47 rifle and pointed it at the soldiers, witnesses said. He was shouting and panting. His eyes were bloodshot. Saleh kept pointing at the helicopter and then at the sky. Some soldiers thought he was telling them to leave.
Sergeant Spino stepped forward, trying to talk and calm him. Then he was shot. He was 46. Two Italian soldiers were wounded as well.
At least one Afghan soldier jumped on Saleh’s back. Accounts vary as to whether firing began before or after a fellow Afghan soldier tried to restrain Saleh. American and Italian soldiers joined in the struggle for Saleh’s weapon, which discharged a few more times before it was wrested away. One soldier shot Saleh in the leg during the struggle. Saleh was later tried and hanged by Afghan authorities.
Heib and Benson both credit Spino with saving their lives.
“He literally bought us time to get away,” Benson said. “I feel he is a hero. He died facing adversity rather than running away. He was so sincere. He wanted to help. Even after (Saleh) locked and loaded, he went closer to try and talk him out of whatever he was going to do.”
Spino was shot three times in the abdomen and chest. His team had only been in Afghanistan for five days. He was their first patient at Forward Operating Base Todd. Heib, an operating room nurse, held his hand, telling him he was not alone.
The 20-member 274th was approaching the end of a tour. They had spent the previous eight months in Iraq, then were to spend about a month in Afghanistan before going home. The team was split; Spino’s half landed in a drab, muddy base of tents run by an Italian Army unit, with help from the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division.
Spino was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star with valor, the Purple Heart, and a Combat Action Badge.
He grew up in Waterbury, graduated from Holy Cross High School, and worked a clerical job at Waterbury Hospital. He tried working as a mechanic but really came alive after joining the Army at age 29. There, he found his calling as a nurse, gained a passion for parachuting, and met his wife. He was a late bloomer.
Spino’s comrades describe him as dependable, very reserved, and very quiet. He kept his eyes low and talked softly, almost mumbling. His nickname around the 274th was “Eeyore,” after the sullen donkey from the Winnie the Pooh stories. It was a running joke, but Spino didn’t mind. With four tours under his belt, he was viewed as something of a father figure as well.
When others complained about weekly mortar attacks on their base in Iraq, Spino said at least they had new concrete bunkers. While others grumbled about getting shipped to Afghanistan for the last month of their tour, Spino reminded them they at least got a few weeks’ notice to prepare. Others often weren’t so lucky.
Spino never complained, Benson said. He didn’t want to spread negativity among his soldiers.
While his usual manner might have been subdued, he came alive in the medical theater, a confident voice projecting to others, Benson said. He loved to teach soldiers about medicine and had a way of explaining complex topics in simple terms.
Spino would take on tasks nobody else wanted or noticed, said Army Colonel Randall Espinosa, who led the 274th in Iraq and retired in 2008. Espinosa recalled that it was Spino who arranged to have the unit’s Humvees properly outfitted with armor. He also arranged for a flagpole to be built and erected in the 274th’s corner of a base in Iraq. Spino and Espinosa raised, saluted, lowered, and folded dozens of U.S. flags to send to schools and other supporters back home.
Espinosa, now retired from the military and an orthopedic specialist in Spokane, donated a case in which to display a set of Spino’s medals at the 274th’s home at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. There have been several tributes over the past year, and it was at these that some members of Spino’s family learned of his last sacrifice.
Hundreds of people from far and wide attended Spino’s funeral in North Carolina last January, including one woman who pulled Glen Spino aside. Her son had been at the camp in Afghanistan, she said.
“He just wanted me to tell you your brother’s actions saved lives,” she said.
“That’s the first time I heard anything other than my brother was shot in the back,” Glen Spino said.
On Veterans Day, Spino’s family members attended the dedication of a classroom in his honor at the Army Trauma Training Center at the Gordon Center for Research in Medical Education in Miami, Fla. It was here that Glen Spino met Heib and Benson, who told him what they saw that day.
Knowing has given some peace, Glen Spino said, though it’s not complete.
“It’s still just as painful now as it was a year ago,” he said. “You learn to cry inside sometimes. There’s nothing you can do. You just have to find a way to live with it. I think part of that, for me, was setting the record straight.”
After Spino’s death, well-wishers from across the country sent his wife letters and gifts, homemade prayer rosaries, and prayer blankets. Betty Collier-Spino didn’t plan to celebrate Christmas, not without her husband. But she recently received five cards from well-wishers and resolved to bring them to his grave to read on Christmas Day.
“I just wanted to thank people for their outpouring of support,” Collier-Spino said. “Ron was treated like the president or governor. I still get thank you cards and people saying thank you. It’s been a year, and I’m still getting them. It’s just so wonderful. People have got their own problems, and they still take time for me.”
Collier-Spino agrees with her brother-in-law that people should know how her husband lived and died.
“To me, personally, he was a hero from day one,” Collier-Spino said. “It’s important for people to know he was a giving soldier and was selfless.”
From The Hartford Courant on September 15, 2021
As a paratrooper and nurse, Sergeant 1st Class Ronald Jay Spino’s job was to help the wounded.
But no one could save the Waterbury native Tuesday when he was fatally shot while serving with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan, his family said.
Spino, 45, was shot in the back while unloading medical supplies, his cousin, Judi Van Alstyne of Berlin, said Wednesday.
He leaves his wife, Betty – whom he met in the military – and a stepdaughter, Kandice, 24. His parents, Rita and James Spino, raised him in Waterbury with his brothers, Glen and James Jr., and his sister, Marianne. His home with Betty is in Fayetteville, North Carolina, near Fort Bragg.
Spino graduated from Holy Cross High School and Teikyo Post University, now known simply as Post University. He worked in the records room of Waterbury Hospital, where his mother also worked.
There, Spino was known as a conscientious but quiet worker, said Kathy Mancini, a fellow records employee, through hospital spokesman Matt Burgard. If someone needed information, Burgard said, “he’d go out of his way to help.”
His mother said, “I was outgoing, but my son was quite shy. He blossomed when he joined the service. It was his true love.”
Spino joined the Army in 1993 at age 29. At first, he was a medic, his mother said. Then he became a nurse, then a paratrooper, and, finally, a paratrooper/nurse, trained to parachute into war-torn areas and help injured soldiers.
This was his fifth assignment, she said; he was transferred from Iraq to Afghanistan two weeks ago.
His body is scheduled to be flown to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Friday, his mother said.
“He’ll be coming home on New Year’s Day.”
From ObitsMassLive.com
I never met Ronald in person. I was assigned to perform a 15-6 (investigation) after he lost his life. I spoke with many people where he was. It became so clear to me how special he was and how he took care of people around him. It also seemed clear to me that he was a peacemaker and likely saved other lives that day. Like I said, I never met him, but I often think about him. Your son was definitely a hero who cared for those around him. I wish you all the best.
— Jerrod W. Killian, Colonel, U.S. Army (retired)
My deepest condolences for your loss. Staff Sergeant Spino was truly a remarkable soldier. I had the honor of deploying with him in ’05 with the 274th, and in his quiet demeanor, we always knew we could count on him to always be there for his fellow soldiers, never turning away from a soldier in need. He will be missed and always remembered by the soldiers of the 274th FST. May God bless you and your family.
— Staff Sergeant Mirna I. Velez
Honored on the City of Waterbury (CT) Global War On Terrorism Memorial
Staff Sergeant Spino’s brother Glen has a flagpole in his front yard in honor of his brother.
Staff Sergeant Spino is buried in Sandhills State Veterans Cemetery, 8220 Bragg Boulevard, Spring Lake, North Carolina; Section 8A, Site 732.
Also memorialized at Our Lady of Lourdes Garden of the Resurrection, 1301 Center Road, Venice, Florida.
