SANTA ROSA MAN KILLED IN AFGHAN ATTACK:RETIRED ARMY OFFICER TRAINED COPTER PILOTS AS CIVILIAN CONTRACTOR

A Santa Rosa man who had been working in Afghanistan for the past three years as a civilian contractor was one of nine Americans killed Wednesday in a shooting near Kabul International Airport.

James McLaughlin Jr., 55, and eight U.S. troops died early Wednesday when a veteran Afghan pilot opened fire during a meeting in a military compound near the airport.

His wife, Sandy McLaughlin, said Thursday she was notified he had been shot to death but was not told any of the circumstances.

"The only thing I know is an Afghan pilot opened fire and my husband was shot and killed," she said.

Outside their two-story home on a cul-de-sac tucked back off West Third Street, a stream of friends and neighbors stopped by with flowers and food. McLaughlin's wife and one of his sons passed around phones to field calls from relatives.

McLaughlin retired as a lieutenant colonel from the Army in 2007, after 25 years in the service, and the following year began contract work.

He thrived in the military and found he loved to teach when he began training Iraqi pilots to run air operations, said one of his two sons, James McLaughlin, 25. He jumped at the opportunity to travel to Afghanistan to continue training local air units.

"It's a testament to a person when they experience a combat area and are willing to go back," said his son.

McLaughlin began training helicopter pilots in Afghanistan for L-3 MPRI, an Alexandria, Va., division of the giant defense contractor, said Rick Kiernan, a vice president of communications for L-3.

"He was one of 12 trainers we have," Kiernan said. "Having been a retired lieutenant colonel, his skills were in aviation."

McLaughlin, who had lived in Sonoma County since 1987, was also an avid ham radio enthusiast.

A radio antenna, one of McLaughlin's projects, stretched high above his family's yard, a tidy green space decorated with his wife's lawn ornaments. McLaughlin used the antenna to communicate with other radio enthusiasts around the world. He could utilize the antennae from Afghanistan through a program he'd set up on the Internet, according to his son.

"He was a character. He could be professional when he needed to be, but he was a light-hearted man," his son said.

McLaughlin helped set up a digital communications system for the ham operators who are part of the county Office of Emergency Services disaster communications network, said Ken Harrison of Santa Rosa, a friend for 20 years and fellow ham operator.

In Afghanistan, McLaughlin worked on the Army Military Auxiliary Radio System, a Department of Defense-funded ham radio program that helped keep U.S. troops in contact with family at home.

"He didn't talk too awful much about the danger," Harrison said. "I think he liked to downplay that end of that. He didn't want people to worry."

McLaughlin's death sent shock waves through the close-knit ranks of ham radio operators. He had been home in Santa Rosa two weeks ago before returning to Kabul.

"My gut hurts," Harrison said. "He was just in town. I am upset that I didn't get to see him."

Wednesday's attack was the fourth in the past two weeks in which someone wearing an Afghan security-force uniform struck from within a government compound.

The shooting occurred during a morning meeting between American and Afghan officers. Nine Americans were killed and five Afghan soldiers were wounded.

NATO forces killed the attacker in a gunfight.

L-3's Kiernan said the shooting occurred in what has been considered a secure compound in Kabul.

"They are looking into the incident to find out what would have motivated the perpetrator," said Kiernan.

The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for the attack, identifying the assailant as a Taliban militant named Azizullah from a district of Kabul province.

The gunman's brother insisted he was not a Taliban sympathizer. The attacker, identified as Ahmad Gul Sahebi, 48, was an officer who had served as a pilot in the Afghan military for two decades and was distressed over his personal finances, said the brother, Dr. Mohammad Hassan Sahibi.

"He was under economic pressures and recently he sold his house. He was not in a normal frame of mind because of these pressures," Sahibi said. "He was going through a very difficult period of time in his life."

Since March 2009, 48 NATO troops and military contractors have been killed in at least 16 attacks in which Afghans have turned their weapons on coalition forces, for reasons investigators later attributed to battlefield stress and personal animosity toward coalition soldiers, rather than Taliban infiltration.

Sandy McLaughlin said she was naturally concerned about her husband's work in the war-torn country.

"This job was offered, he was using his military background and he was doing something he loved," she said. "He loved doing the work."

Throughout McLaughlin's career, his family had braced for the possibility that he might die while serving his country. "You know it's a possibility and you cherish the time you have," said his son, who served in the Marines from 2005 to 2008.

McLaughlin wanted to teach high school math and science classes when he returned and had planned to get his teaching credential, his son said.

McLaughlin and his wife were married 28 years. In addition to James McLaughlin, they have two other children, Adam McLaughlin and Eve McLaughlin-Suttif, all of Santa Rosa.

Sandy McLaughlin said her husband's body is being brought back today to Dover, Del., and then will be returned to Santa Rosa.

McLaughlin is the second civilian contractor from Sonoma County to die in conflict.

On May 1, 2004, Christian F. Kilpatrick, 25, who was born in Penngrove, was killed in an ambush near Tikrit, Iraq, while working as a civilian contractor on a security detail. He had previously served four years with the 75th Ranger Regiment, 3rd Battalion, Bravo Company in Afghanistan and Iraq.

This story includes information from the Associated Press. You can reach Staff Writer Bob Norberg at 521-5206 or bob.norberg@pressdemocrat.com.