“In the final hours of his life, Sergeant Higgins helped his strike force accomplish its mission against a determined enemy in Afghanistan,” said Col. Mark W. Odom, Commander of the 75th Ranger Regiment. “Without reservation or hesitation, he carried the hopes of our nation—as he had done so many times before.”
Sgt. Higgins was killed by enemy forces during a heavy firefight while conducting combat operations in Logar Province, Afghanistan. He was leading an assault against an enemy compound when he was mortally wounded by small arms fire.

SGT Higgins served with: D Company 1st Ranger Battalion

Born in 1989, Ranger Higgins was 23 years old at the time of his death in 2012.

“In the final hours of his life, Sergeant Higgins helped his strike force accomplish its mission against a determined enemy in Afghanistan,” said Col. Mark W. Odom, Commander of the 75th Ranger Regiment. “Without reservation or hesitation, he carried the hopes of our nation—as he had done so many times before.”
Sgt. Higgins was killed by enemy forces during a heavy firefight while conducting combat operations in Logar Province, Afghanistan. He was leading an assault against an enemy compound when he was mortally wounded by small arms fire.

http://obituaries.tylerpaper.com/obituaries/tylerpaper/obituary.aspx?pid=157196515
Sgt. Tanner Stone Higgins, 23, of Savannah, Ga., was killed in action on Friday, April 13, 2012, in Logar Province, Afghanistan.

Sgt. Higgins was born in Irving on Jan. 31, 1989, to Danny R. Higgins and Patti Stone Sells. He grew up in the Yantis and Sulphur Springs area and graduated from Sulphur Springs High School in 2007. Upon graduation he enlisted in the United States Army where he served as a rifleman, grenadier, automatic rifleman, gun team leader and a Ranger team leader. Sgt. Higgins was currently serving in the Hunter Army Airfields First Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment. He had completed four deployments to the Middle East, one to Iraq and three to Afghanistan; he was serving his fourth tour in Afghanistan. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal and the Purple Heart.

He is survived by his wife, Shelby Allen Higgins, of Savannah, Ga.; father, Danny R. Higgins, of Hurst.; mother, Patti Stone Sells, of Tybee Island, Ga.; brothers, Dillon Henegar, Hunter Higgins, Noah Sells; grandparents, Gerald and Betty Higgins and Glen Roy and Martha Dickens.

Funeral services are scheduled for 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 24, 2012, at Lake Fork Baptist Church, Alba. Internment will follow at Cypress Cemetery in Franklin County under the direction of Beaty Funeral Home, Winnsboro.

Serving as pallbearers will be U.S. Army Rangers.
- See more at: http://obituaries.tylerpaper.com/obituaries/tylerpaper/obituary.aspx?pid=157196515#sthash.XaIG7ICx.dpuf

https://www.leadthewayfund.org/2012/04/sgt-tanner-stone-higgins/

Assignment: 1-75th
Location: Afghanistan
K.I.A.: April 14, 2012
Sgt. Tanner Stone Higgins, 23, was killed by enemy forces during a heavy firefight while conducting combat operations in Logar Province, Afghanistan. He was leading an assault against an enemy compound when he was mortally wounded by small arms fire.

Tanner was a team leader assigned to Company D, 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment at Hunter Army Airfield, Ga. He was on his third deployment to Afghanistan in support of the War on Terror. He deployed to Iraq once.

Higgins was born Jan. 31, 1989. After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Army in October 2007. Higgins completed One Station Unit Training at Fort Benning, Ga., as an infantryman. After graduating from the Basic Airborne Course there, he was assigned to the Ranger Assessment and Selection Program also at Fort Benning.

Higgins graduated from the Ranger Assessment and Selection Program and was then assigned to Company D, 1st Bn., 75th Ranger Regiment in July 2008, where he served as a rifleman, grenadier, automatic rifleman, gun team leader and a Ranger team leader.

His military education includes the Basic Airborne Course, Ranger Assessment and Selection Program, U.S. Army Ranger Course, Emergency Medical Technician Basic Course, U.S. Army Sniper School, and was the Warrior Leader Course Distinguished Leadership Awardee.

His awards and decorations include the Ranger Tab, the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, the Parachutist Badge, and the U.S. Army Expert Rifle Marksmanship Qualification Badge.

Higgins has also been awarded the Joint Service Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal with three Campaign Stars, Iraq Campaign Medal with one Campaign Star, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Non-Commissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon, Army Service Ribbon and the Overseas Service Ribbon.

He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, and Purple Heart.

Higgins is survived by his wife Shelby Lynn Higgins of Savannah, Ga., his father Danny R. Higgins of Hurst, Texas, and his mother Patti D. Sells of Tybee Island, Ga.

As a Ranger, Higgins selflessly lived his life for others and distinguished himself as a member of the Army’s premier direct action raid force and fought valiantly as he served his fellow Rangers and our great Nation.

http://thefallen.militarytimes.com/army-sgt-tanner-s-higgins/6568156

https://www.armyranger.com/ranger/index.php/memorial/1454-ranger-tanner-higgins

Army Sgt. Tanner S. Higgins
Died April 14, 2012 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom
23, of Yantis, Texas; assigned to 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Hunter Army Airfield, Ga.; died Apr. 14 in Logar province, Afghanistan, of wounds caused by enemy small-arms fire.
Ga. soldiers to honor Ranger slain in Afghanistan

The Associated Press
SAVANNAH, Ga. — An Army Ranger killed in a firefight in Afghanistan is being honored by soldiers in his Savannah-based battalion.

The elite 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment planned a memorial service Friday at Hunter Army Airfield to remember Sgt. Tanner Stone Higgins.

The Army says Higgins, a native of Yantis, Texas, was mortally wounded April 14 in a gunbattle in Afghanistan's Logar Province while leading an assault against an enemy compound.

Troops from the elite Ranger battalion have served multiple deployments to Afghanistan since the U.S. went to war there in 2001.

http://www.myssnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18440:sgt-tanner-higgins-killed-in-afghanistan&catid=93:local-news&Itemid=376

Former Sulphur Springs and Yantis resident Tanner Stone Higgins, 23, was killed Saturday morning while conducting combat operations in Logar Province, Afghanistan.

Army Sgt. Tanner Stone Higgins “died Apr. 14 in Logar Province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with small arms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Hunter Army Airfield, Ga.,” the Department of Defense noted in a news release Sunday.

“Sgt. Higgins was leading an assault against an enemy compound when he was mortally wounded by small arms fire,” ArmyRanger.com noted

“Sgt. Higgins epitomized the Ranger Fire Team Leader, and was admired and respected by everyone,” Col. Michael Foster, the Commander of 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, stated in a press release. “A skilled warrior, who always led from the front, he is a hero to his family, 1st Ranger Battalion and our Nation. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the entire Higgins family.

“In the final hours of his life, Sergeant Higgins helped his strike force accomplish its mission against a determined enemy in Afghanistan,” said Col. Mark W. Odom, Commander of the 75th Ranger Regiment. “Without reservation or hesitation, he carried the hopes of our nation—as he had done so many times before.”

Higgins, a 2007 Sulphur Springs High School graduate, was a member of the elite Army Rangers. He was the son of former News-Telegram feature writer Patti Stone Sells of Tybee Island, Ga., and Danny R. Higgins of Hurst. He married Shelby Lynn Allen in October 2011; she resides in Savannah, Ga. His brothers are Noah Sells of Tybee Island, Ga., and Army Pvt. Dillon Heneger, who is stationed at Fort Benning in Columbus, Ga., and is currently preparing to enter the Ranger Indoctrination Program.

Higgins completed One Station Unit Training at Fort Benning, Ga., as an infantryman. After graduating from the Basic Airborne Course there, he was assigned to the Ranger Assessment and Selection Program also at Fort Benning. Higgins graduated from the Ranger Assessment and Selection Program and was then assigned to Company D, 1st Bn., 75th Ranger Regiment in July 2008, where he served as a rifleman, grenadier, automatic rifleman, gun team leader and a Ranger team leader. He was promoted to sergeant in July 2010, according to a release posted in www.armynews.com.

“Ranger School truly taught me what it is to be a man. It taught me that I wasn’t nearly as tough as I acted — but that I was a lot tougher than I thought. It’s a good feeling to be a part of the best unit in the world,” Higgins said in a May 2009 article about becoming a Ranger.

His military education includes the Basic Airborne Course, Ranger Assessment and Selection Program, U.S. Army Ranger Course, Emergency Medical Technician Basic Course, U.S. Army Sniper School and was the Warrior Leader Course Distinguished Leadership awardee.

His awards and decorations include the Ranger Tab, the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, the Parachutist Badge and the U.S. Army Expert Rifle Marksmanship Qualification Badge. Sgt. Higgins has also been awarded the Joint Service Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal with three Campaign Stars, Iraq Campaign Medal with one Campaign Star, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Non-Commissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon, Army Service Ribbon and the Overseas Service Ribbon.

He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal and Purple Heart.

“As a Ranger, Higgins selflessly lived his life for others and distinguished himself as a member of the Army’s premier direct action raid force and fought valiantly as he served his fellow Rangers and our great Nation,” notes ArmyRanger.com

Former News-Telegram feature writer Patti Stone Sells with her son, Tanner Stone Higgins, on the beach at Tybee Island, Ga., in 2010. Sells moved to Georgia to be near her son, who was a member of the elite Army Rangers. Higgins was killed Saturday in Afghanistan. Source: Patti Stone Sells Facebook
Former News-Telegram feature writer Patti Stone Sells with her son, Tanner Stone Higgins, on the beach at Tybee Island, Ga., in 2010. Sells moved to Georgia to be near her son, who was a member of the elite Army Rangers. Higgins was killed Saturday in Afghanistan.