Father fills soldier-son’s request for spotlights to search for IEDs

By JOE BOOMGAARD Daily News Staff Writer Corey Beekman, a graduate of Mason County Central, serves with the 1461st Combat Unit out of Jackson, a unit stationed in Fort Speicher, near Tikrit, Iraq.

The unit performs armored transports mostly at night, after curfew.  Their armored gun trucks have been struck by four improvised explosive devices (IEDs) since being deployed in August.

After an incident this month in which several men in the unit were injured and a five-ton armored gun truck destroyed, Corey’s father, Russell Beekman, realized something had to be done to keep his son and comrades safe.

The solution?  More light…. continue