4 more Stryker soldiers killed in Afghanistan
FORT LEWIS, Wash. - Four more Stryker brigade soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan - and although the Defense Department hasn't confirmed it, the soldiers are likely from Fort Lewis.
The news is hitting hard at the sprawling Army base south of Tacoma, which already has suffered a string of combat deaths in recent weeks.
Flags are already at half-staff on post in honor of the four who were killed Thursday in Afghanistan.
The Pentagon has confirmed that the four soldiers died in the same small district of southeastern Zabul province.
Three were killed when their Stryker vehicle triggered a bomb in its path, and the fourth was shot to death in an insurgent attack, said U.S. military spokesman Lt. Robert Carr.
The Stryker brigade arrived in Zabul as part of the summertime surge to try to secure the region ahead of Afghanistan's Aug. 20 presidential election.
The deaths happened just as the 5th Stryker Brigade at Fort Lewis was bidding farewell to two of their own who died earlier.
That memorial service, on Thursday, is part of what has become a weekly occurrence - a farewell to members of the 5th Brigade - a unit which only arrived in Afghanistan in July.
Already they've lost 15 soldiers in combat, when you count the four who died Thursday.
This has been the deadliest year for American troops since the 2001 invasion to oust the Islamic extremist Taliban. Some 214 troops have been killed so far this year - well ahead of the 151 who died in all of 2008.
Tavie Smith, owner of a Lakewood business bordering Fort Lewis called the latest losses "heartbreaking."
Nearby restaurant owner Sue Rothwell said she feels each loss individually.
"This week has been hard because a lot of the guys are leaving and, 'We'll see you next year.' And I just go, 'Oh, I hope so. I hope so,'" she says.
Rothwell displays the names of the soldiers who've died at her Galloping Gerties restaurant across from the Fort Lewis gate.
She says they're not just a number - they were loved human beings. And now she's going to have to add four more names.
Also on Thursday, a U.S. Marine was fatally shot while on foot patrol in southwestern Nimroz province, said Capt. Elizabeth Mathias, a military spokeswoman.
Bombs planted in roads, fields and near bases now account for the majority of U.S. and NATO casualties and have proven especially dangerous in the south. With the five deaths, a total of 34 U.S. forces have died in Afghanistan in September. August, which was the deadliest month of the war for American troops, saw 51 deaths.
The news is hitting hard at the sprawling Army base south of Tacoma, which already has suffered a string of combat deaths in recent weeks.
Flags are already at half-staff on post in honor of the four who were killed Thursday in Afghanistan.
The Pentagon has confirmed that the four soldiers died in the same small district of southeastern Zabul province.
Three were killed when their Stryker vehicle triggered a bomb in its path, and the fourth was shot to death in an insurgent attack, said U.S. military spokesman Lt. Robert Carr.
The Stryker brigade arrived in Zabul as part of the summertime surge to try to secure the region ahead of Afghanistan's Aug. 20 presidential election.
The deaths happened just as the 5th Stryker Brigade at Fort Lewis was bidding farewell to two of their own who died earlier.
That memorial service, on Thursday, is part of what has become a weekly occurrence - a farewell to members of the 5th Brigade - a unit which only arrived in Afghanistan in July.
Already they've lost 15 soldiers in combat, when you count the four who died Thursday.
This has been the deadliest year for American troops since the 2001 invasion to oust the Islamic extremist Taliban. Some 214 troops have been killed so far this year - well ahead of the 151 who died in all of 2008.
Tavie Smith, owner of a Lakewood business bordering Fort Lewis called the latest losses "heartbreaking."
Nearby restaurant owner Sue Rothwell said she feels each loss individually.
"This week has been hard because a lot of the guys are leaving and, 'We'll see you next year.' And I just go, 'Oh, I hope so. I hope so,'" she says.
Rothwell displays the names of the soldiers who've died at her Galloping Gerties restaurant across from the Fort Lewis gate.
She says they're not just a number - they were loved human beings. And now she's going to have to add four more names.
Also on Thursday, a U.S. Marine was fatally shot while on foot patrol in southwestern Nimroz province, said Capt. Elizabeth Mathias, a military spokeswoman.
Bombs planted in roads, fields and near bases now account for the majority of U.S. and NATO casualties and have proven especially dangerous in the south. With the five deaths, a total of 34 U.S. forces have died in Afghanistan in September. August, which was the deadliest month of the war for American troops, saw 51 deaths.
