LI Marine killed in Afghan attack laid to rest - New York Post

A thousand people gathered at a Long Island cathedral yesterday to mourn a brave Marine killed by an Afghan police officer with whom he had just shared a meal.

Lance Cpl. Greg Buckley Jr., 21, was laid to rest a week after being gunned down by the cop who was supposed to be his ally — just one of an alarming number of turncoat attacks this year.

"This boy will never be forgotten," Greg Buckley Sr., the soldier's devastated father, said at the service in St. Agnes Cathedral in Rockville Centre.

"I have to stand here and believe there's a purpose for Greg. I have to, in my heart, accept the idea that the Lord took my son for a reason."

Family, friends and fellow Marines packed the church for the gut-wrenching ceremony during which Buckley Sr. was so overcome with grief he couldn't stand and Buckley's mother, Marina, silently held a portrait of her son in uniform.

"The kid didn't have a bad bone in his body," said Buckley's brother Justin. "I loved my brother Greg. He was my hero, my role model."

Buckley Jr., of Oceanside, LI, had been days away from coming home for a surprise visit — and four months from ending his Afghanistan tour.

He had told his dad that he feared for his life and that an Afghan army officer had threatened him.

The Marine and two others were killed on Aug. 10 after an Afghan cop fired bullets into the gymnasium of a US base in Afghanistan's southwestern Helmand province.

Coalition troops in Afghanistan have been on edge after nine attacks in 11 days by supposed allies.

There have been 29 "insider attacks" so far in 2012, compared with 11 last year. At least 107 coalition troops have died in such attacks since 2007.

At Buckley's funeral, Rep. Peter King called on the military to do a better job vetting Afghan forces.

"To have people who are supposed to be our allies turning on us — it's terrible," King said.

The lawmaker called Buckley's murder "a tragic, tragic death."

Washington has spent more than $20 billion arming and training 340,000 Afghan security forces — dozens of whom have turned their weapons on US troops.

Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar said last week that insurgent fighters are infiltrating Afghan security forces to attack NATO servicemen.

All US forces are now required to carry loaded weapons at NATO headquarters and all bases to prevent more of the turncoat attacks.

KBriquelet@nypost.com