20-year-old US Army Pfc. Barrett L. Austin, serving with the 4th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, died on 21st April 2013 at a hospital in Landstuhl, Germany.
Pfc. Austin, from Easley, South Carolina, had been severely injured on 17th April when his vehicle was hit by a homemade bomb in Wardak province.
He was based at Fort Stewart, Georgia, as part of the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division.
Pfc. Austin leaves his wife, Heather, his parents and a sister.
US Army Chief Warrant Officer 3 Matthew Ruffner, serving with the Pennsylvania Army National Guard’s Company B, 1-104th Attack Reconnaissance Battalion, was one of two soldiers killed on 9th April 2013 when their helicopter crashed during a reconnaissance mission in Nangarhar province.
34-year-old CWO3 Ruffner graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in criminology. He joined the military in 1997, serving initially as a mechanic in the Army Reserve’s 705th Transportation Company in Dayton, Ohio, before transferring to the Army National Guard’s 110th Infantry.
He went on to complete warrant officer training and transferred to the aviation career field in 2005 serving as an aviation life support equipment officer, tactical operations officer and instructor pilot. More recently, he was employed as a full-time Apache instructor pilot for the Pennsylvania National Guard’s Army Aviation Support Facility.
His awards and decorations include the Army Achievement Medal, three Army Reserve Component Achievement Medals and the Parachutist Badge.
The other Pennsylvania National Guardsman killed in the crash was Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jarett Yoder.
The cause of the crash is being investigated.
US Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jarett Yoder, serving with the Pennsylvania Army National Guard’s Company B, 1-104th Attack Reconnaissance Battalion, was one of two soldiers killed on 9th April 2013 when their helicopter crashed during a reconnaissance mission in Nangarhar province.
27-year-old CWO2 Yoder joined the military in 2005 after graduating from High School the same year. He served as an infantryman and deployed to Iraq in 2008 with the 56th Stryker Brigade. In 2010, he became an Apache Helicopter pilot. His awards and decorations include the Army Commendation Medal, Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge and Driver and Mechanic Badge.
As reported on the Pennsylvania National Guard website, CWO2 Yoder’s wife Heather Garay-Yoder released the following statement: "Jarett is my American Hero. He always dreamed of being an Apache pilot and he followed those dreams to continue to fight for our country. Jarett died doing what he loved and dreamed of doing, a true hero. There are so many people who love him and we will never forget. I love you, always and forever. Your loving wife, Heather."
The other Pennsylvania National Guardsman killed in the crash was Chief Warrant Officer 3 Matthew Ruffner.
The cause of the crash is being investigated.
Three US soldiers were named as victims of a suicide bomber who struck their convoy with a car on 6th April 2013.
The soldiers were part of a convoy of officials travelling to a school in Qalot, the provincial capital of Zabul province, to donate books for the students there. The suicide bomber drove a car packed with explosives into the convoy, killing six people and injuring at least ten more.
The soldiers, all serving with the 5th Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, based at Fort Stewart, Georgia, were named by the US Department of Defense as:
24-year-old Staff Sgt. Christopher M. Ward, 25-year-old Spc. Wilbel Robles-Santa and 24-year-old Spc. Deflin M. Santos Jr.
Also among the victims was US Diplomat Anne Smedinghoff aged 25.
More information to follow.
25-year-old US diplomat Anne Smedinghoff, was among a group of six killed on 6th April 2013 by a suicide bomber who drove a car into a convoy of American military and civilian personnel. The attack happened in Zabul province.
Ms Smedinghoff, from Chicago, Illinois, joined the US Foreign Service after she graduated from University in 2009. She had previously served in Venezuela.
She was an Assistant Information Officer and had volunteered for the Afghanistan posting. At the time of the attack, her group were on their way to deliver a consignment of books to a local school in Qalot, the provincial capital.
Six American citizens lost their lives today (6th April 2013) in a day of violence across Afghanistan.
Five were killed by a suicide car-bomber in Qalat, Zabul province. They were in a convoy of vehicles heading for a local school to give books to students, when the bomber struck. Three American military personnel, a female officer with the State Foreign Service Department and a civilian with the Department of Defense were killed. 10 people were injured by the blast, one State Department employee critically.
In a separate incident, an American civilian was killed in eastern Afghanistan during an insurgent attack.
More information to follow.
US Air Force Captain James Michael Steel was killed on 3rd April 2013 in an air crash near Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan.
29-year-old Captain Steel, from Tampa, Florida, was an F-16 pilot with 77th Fighter Squadron based at Shaw AFB, South Carolina. He was on approach to land at Bagram after a mission late in the evening, when his wingman and air-traffic control lost contact with him. The incident happened approximately 10 miles south of the runway.
Officials later said there was no enemy action in the area at the time of the incident.
He graduated from the US Air Force Academy in 2006 and transferred to Shaw AFB in 2010.
More information to follow.
43-year-old US Army Chief Warrant Officer Curtis S. Reagan, from Summerville, South Carolina, died in Kandahar on 29th March 2013 from a non-combat related illness.
CWO Reagan served with the 603rd Aviation Support Battalion, 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade, based at Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia.
No further details are available at this time. More to follow.
26-year-old US Army Sergeant Michael C. Cable died on 27th March after being stabbed by a teenager in Nangarhar province.
Sgt. Cable, from Kentucky, was part of a unit tasked with securing an area for a joint US-Afghan meeting in Shinwar district of the province. At the time of the attack, he was outside the security cordon talking with a group of Afghan children. A teenager approached him from behind and stabbed him in the neck with a knife.
Sgt. Cable was serving with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division, based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
His body was repatriated to Dover Air Force Base last week.
20-year-old US Army Pfc. Barrett L. Austin, serving with the 4th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, died on 21st April 2013 at a hospital in Landstuhl, Germany.
US Army Chief Warrant Officer 3 Matthew Ruffner, serving with the Pennsylvania Army National Guard’s Company B, 1-104th Attack Reconnaissance Battalion, was one of two soldiers killed on 9th April 2013 when their helicopter crashed during a reconnaissance mission in Nangarhar province.
US Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jarett Yoder, serving with the Pennsylvania Army National Guard’s Company B, 1-104th Attack Reconnaissance Battalion, was one of two soldiers killed on 9th April 2013 when their helicopter crashed during a reconnaissance mission in Nangarhar province.
25-year-old US diplomat Anne Smedinghoff, was among a group of six killed on 6th April 2013 by a suicide bomber who drove a car into a convoy of American military and civilian personnel. The attack happened in Zabul province.
US Air Force Captain James Michael Steel was killed on 3rd April 2013 in an air crash near Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan.
26-year-old US Army Sergeant Michael C. Cable died on 27th March after being stabbed by a teenager in Nangarhar province.
