DOD identifies five U.S. troops killed in IED blast in Afghanistan
COMBAT OUTPOST NALGHAM, Afghanistan — A quiet solemnity has settled in here, and a profound sadness hangs like a fog. The gym that usually blasts with music and clangs with the sound of weights is silent. A painful emptiness pervades the post.
For those in Company C, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Thursday was the worst of days. Five of its soldiers, all from 3rd Platoon’s 1st Squad, were killed when their Mine Resistant Ambush Protected All Terrain Vehicle rolled over an improvised explosive device on a desolate road in southern Kandahar province.
‘It’s like your family just got ripped out of your heart,’ Pfc. Thadius Deloatch said.
On Sunday, the Department of Defense identified those killed in the explosion: Sgt. Edward J. Frank II, 26, of Yonkers, N.Y.; Spc. Jameel T. Freeman, 26, of Baltimore, Md.; Spc. Patrick L. Lay II, 21, of Fletcher, N.C.; Spc. Jordan M. Morris, 23, of Stillwater, Okla.; Pfc. Rueben J. Lopez, 27, of Williams, Calif.
After the explosion Thursday, the battalion chaplain couldn’t get here soon enough. A line of soldiers needing him waited late into the night, and early the next morning. For many, the tears pushed out in waves. For others, solace came in the form of a quiet stoicism.
‘I don’t know what to do right now. My whole squad is gone,’ Pfc. Jeremy Urzua said. His squad leader, Frank, was among the soldiers killed in the blast and had given him a rare day off Thursday.
‘I didn’t see it at first, but he just saved my life,’ said Urzua, who was back at COP when the attack occurred that morning.
According to Company C Commander Capt. Dennis Call, the IED was triggered by a detonator and was buried in a powdery layer of soil soldiers call ‘moon dust.’ From fighting positions nearby, soldiers watched as the catastrophic explosion sent a plume of white smoke nearly 200 feet in the air. When they arrived at the blast site moments later, they found the doors and turret blown from the vehicle.
The extreme nature of the blast, which breached the hull of the armored vehicle and pushed the engine into the cab, remains under investigation, but soldiers here speculate that military-grade explosives were used.
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