At least 15 North Carolina-based service members have died as a result of fighting in Afghanistan this month - nine during the past week - in what is shaping up to be a deadly summer for the effort to bring stability to the country through military force.
June was the deadliest month for U.S. troops in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001. Figures from the U.S. Department of Defense indicate that 60 U.S. troops were killed in what the military calls Operation Enduring Freedom during June, one more than in the next-deadliest month of October 2009.
So far this month, at least 42 U.S. service members have died in Afghanistan.
In recent months, the Taliban has increased attacks against the troops, U.S. officials say. Buried roadside bombs continue to cause most of the fatalities, though news reports increasingly tell of firefights, helicopter crashes, and coordinated assaults as brazen as the one June 30 when insurgents tried to shoot their way into a NATO air base in Jalalabad, in eastern Afghanistan.
North Carolina's role
Military bases in North Carolina are a major source of personnel for the war in Afghanistan. Thousands of soldiers from Fort Bragg and Marines from Camp Lejeune, Cherry Point and New River are in the country, where they must contend with heavily armed Taliban fighters and drug dealers who try to thwart their efforts to train local police and security forces.
Marines from Camp Lejeune began deploying last year as part of a surge ordered by President Barack Obama. Since February, they have been working in Helmand Province, where the military says the Taliban have threatened local residents who cooperate with coalition forces.
Two Marines based at Camp Lejeune are the most recent reported deaths.
The Department of Defense announced Monday that Cpl. Dave M. Santos, 21, of Rota, Marianas Islands of the Pacific, died Friday in Helmand Province. He was a field radio operator for the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment at Lejeune and had been in Afghanistan since June. He joined the Marine Corps in June 2007 and had served in Iraq from August 2008 to March 2009. He is survived by his wife and child.
Staff Sgt. Justus S. Bartelt, 27, of Polo, Ill., was in the same unit as Santos and also died Friday. No additional information was available on Bartelt Monday evening.
Eight soldiers from Fort Bragg also have died in the past week.
Spc. Christopher J. Moon, 20, of Tucson, Ariz., died in a German hospital July 13 of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device on July 6 in Arghandab, Afghanistan. He was an infantryman in the 4th Brigade Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne.
Three other members of the 4th Brigade died the same day in Afghanistan when they came under fire from rifles, small arms and rocket-propelled grenades in Kandahar City. Staff Sgt. Christopher T. Stout, 34, was from Worthville, Ky; 1st Lt. Christopher S. Goeke, 23, was from Apple Valley, Minn.; and Staff Sgt. Sheldon L. Tate, 27, was from Hinesville, Ga.
The next day, four members of the 27th Engineer Battalion (Combat Airborne), 20th Engineer Brigade (Combat) at Fort Bragg were killed when an IED blew up their vehicle. Spc. Chase Stanley, 21, of Napa, Calif., Spc. Jesse D. Reed, 26, of Orefield, Pa., Spc. Matthew J. Johnson, 21, of Maplewood, Minn., and Sgt. Zachary M. Fisher, 24, of Ballwin, Mo., died in the attack.
