U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq

As of Friday, Nov. 19, 2010, at least 4,427 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to iCasualties.org.

Since the start of U.S. military operations in Iraq, more than 32,000 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, according to the Defense Department’s latest available tally.

U.S. Troop Casualties in Iraq

Latest identifications:

None

U.S. Military Deaths in Afghanistan

As of Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2010, at least 1,322 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan as a result of the invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to iCasualties.org.

Since the start of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, at least 9,100 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, according to the Defense Department’s latest available tally.

Latest identifications:

Army Spc. Jacob C. Carroll, 20, Clemmons, N.C., died Nov. 13, 2010 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, when an insurgent suicide bomber detonated a vest bomb and struck his unit. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.

Army Cpl. Jacob R. Carver, 20, Freeman, Mo., died Nov. 13, 2010 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, when an insurgent suicide bomber detonated a vest bomb and struck his unit. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.

Army Staff Sgt. Juan L. Rivadeneira, 27, Davie, Fla., died Nov. 13, 2010 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, when an insurgent suicide bomber detonated a vest bomb and struck his unit. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.

Army Spc. Shane H. Ahmed, 31, Chesterfield, Mich., died Nov. 14, 2010 in Kunar province, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked his unit with small-arms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.

Army Spc. Nathan E. Lillard, 26, Knoxville, Tenn., died Nov. 14, 2010 in Kunar province, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked his unit with small-arms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.

Army Spc. Scott T. Nagorski, 27, Greenfield, Wis., died Nov. 14, 2010 in Kunar province, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked his unit with small-arms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.

Army Spc. Jesse A. Snow, 25, Fairborn, Ohio, died Nov. 14, 2010 in Kunar province, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked his unit with small-arms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.

Army Pfc. Christian M. “Kade” Warriner, 19, Mills River, N.C., died Nov. 14, 2010 in Kunar province, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked his unit with small-arms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.

Army Staff Sgt. David P. Senft, 27, Grass Valley, Calif., died Nov. 15, 2010 at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained in a noncombat-related incident [more information]. He was assigned to the 5th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.

Marine Staff Sgt. Javier O. Ortiz Rivera, 26, Rochester, N.Y., died Nov. 16, 2010 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Army Staff Sgt. Kevin M. Pape, 30, Fort Wayne, Ind., died Nov. 16, 2010 in Konar province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small-arms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Hunter Army Airfield, Ga.

Army Spc. Justin E. Culbreth, 26, Colorado Springs, Colo., died Nov. 17, 2010 at Panjway district, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.

Army Pfc. Kyle M. Holder, 18, Conroe, Texas, died Nov. 17, 2010 at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained in a non-combat incident. He was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 38th Cavalry Regiment (Reconnaissance and Surveillance), 525th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade, XVIII Airborne Corps, Fort Bragg, N.C.

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Related reports

8 Fort Campbell Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan

Nov. 18, 2010

FORT CAMPELL, Ky. — Eight Fort Campbell soldiers were killed over the weekend in two separate attacks in Afghanistan.

Three soldiers were killed in Kandahar province on Saturday when a suicide bomber detonated a vest bomb in southern Afghanistan, the military said Tuesday. They were 27-year-old Staff Sgt. Juan L. Rivadeneira of Davie, Fla.; 20-year-old Cpl. Jacob R. Carver of Freeman, Mo.; and 20-year-old Spc. Jacob C. Carroll of Clemmons, N.C.

They were assigned to Company B, 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division.

Five soldiers from 1st Brigade Combat Team were killed in a separate attack Sunday in eastern Afghanistan, Fort Campbell spokeswoman Kelly DeWitt said Tuesday. The military did not release details on the attack or their names.

Rivadeneira joined the Army in May 2003 and arrived at Fort Campbell in May 2009. He is survived by his wife, Melissa Rivadeneira and son, Juan A. Rivadeneira of Germany; and mother, Yenni S. Rivadeneira of Venezuela.

Carver joined the Army in September 2008 and arrived at Fort Campbell in February 2009. He is survived by his mother, Rosa M. Carver, and father, Arthur F. Carver, of Freeman, Mo.

Carroll joined the Army in January 2009 and arrived at Fort Campbell in June 2009. He is survived by his mother, Cole M. Masear of Archdale, N.C.; and father, Jackie C. Carroll of Clemmons, N.C.

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Details Given on Deadly Attack in Kunar Province

By Heidi Vogt

Nov. 18, 2010

KABUL, Afghanistan — NATO on Nov. 18 released the first details on an insurgent attack that killed five U.S. soldiers, saying the Americans were trying to rout militants from a volatile valley in eastern Kunar province when they came under fire.

The area along Afghanistan’s eastern border with Pakistan has continued to see heavy fighting as NATO focuses most of its efforts on a troop surge in the south aimed at breaking Taliban strongholds there.

The five American soldiers who died Nov. 14 were “conducting clearing operations” when they came under fire in Watapur valley, said Master Sgt. Brian Sipp, a spokesman for the international military alliance.

The soldiers are 27-year-old Spc. Scott Thomas Nagorski of Greenfield, Wis.; 25-year-old Spc. Jesse Adam Snow of Fairborn, Ohio; 26-year-old Spc. Nathan Edward Lillard of Knoxville, Tenn.; 31-year-old Spc. Shane Hasan Ahmed of Chesterfield, Mich.; and 19-year-old Pfc. Christian Michael Warriner of Mills River, N.C.

Sipp did not say how many troops were involved in the fight, nor provide an estimate of the number of attackers. The fighting started about 2 p.m. and lasted at least six hours, he said, with the wounded and the killed not being evacuated until late that evening.

All six deaths occurred during a four-day push called Operation Bulldog Bite to search out militants and weapons caches near the Pech river.

The area has long been a transit route for insurgents coming over from the Pakistan border and has proved a tricky area for U.S. forces trying to secure the mountainous terrain and coax villagers away from supporting the insurgents and criminals who control much of the area.

Watapur is just 5 miles from the Korengal valley, where U.S. troops ceased operations seven months ago, saying that it was not strategically important. Forty-two Americans died in Korengal before the troops pulled out.

Operation Bulldog Bite has killed at least five insurgents, though there have been unconfirmed reports of as many as 49 insurgents killed, said Maj. Mary Constantino, a spokeswoman for U.S. forces in the area.

In addition, the forces found weapons caches containing mortar systems with rounds, more than a dozen rocket-propelled grenades, 20 anti-aircraft rounds

“Operation Bulldog Bite has degraded the insurgents’ ability to terrorize the people of the Pech valley,” Constantino said.

Three Afghan soldiers were also killed in the operation, said Gen. Khalilullah Zaiyi, the Kunar province police chief. He said about 30 insurgents were killed.

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Several Warnings, Then a Soldier’s Lonely Death

By James Risen

January 2, 2010

WASHINGTON — A gentle snow fell on the funeral of Staff Sgt. David Senft at Arlington National Cemetery on Dec. 16, when his bitterly divided California family came together to say goodbye. His 5-year-old son received a flag from a grateful nation.

Evidence suggests that Sergeant Senft committed suicide.

But that brief moment of peace could not hide the fact that for his family and friends and the soldiers who had served with him in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, too many unanswered questions remained about Sergeant Senft’s lonely death in a parked sport utility vehicle on an American air base in Afghanistan, and about whether the Army could have done more to prevent it.

Officially, the Army says only that Sergeant Senft, 27, a crew chief on a Black Hawk helicopter in the 101st Airborne Division’s aviation brigade, was killed as a result of “injuries sustained in a noncombat related incident” at Kandahar Air Base on Nov. 15. No specific cause of death has been announced. Army officials say three separate inquiries into the death are under way. …

Full story

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Remember Their Sacrifice

Related links

Iraq Casualties

Afghanistan Casualties

Honor the Fallen

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — November 19, 2009

Condemning Beck and Bachmann

One year ago today, I reported that, according to a November 2009 Anti-Defamation League Special Report titled “Rage Grows in America: Anti-Government Conspiracies,” a wave of anti-government hostility had swept across the United States since the election of Barack Obama as president, creating a climate of fervor and activism with manifestations ranging from incivility in public forums to acts of intimidation and violence.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: Two Years Ago — November 19, 2008

Chuck Hagel and Aubrey Immelman

Hagel Lambasts Limbaugh

Two years ago today, on Nov. 19, 2008, I reported that U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), at a November 2008 forum at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, leveled harsh criticism at the GOP, the lack of intellectual curiosity among some Republican members of Congress, the Bush administration’s handling of nearly every aspect of governance, and the conservative radio voices that dictate the GOP agenda.