Two Army Rangers Possibly Killed by Friendly Fire in Afghanistan
Two Army Rangers Possibly Killed by Friendly Fire in Afghanistan
Two Army Rangers -- Sgts. Joshua Rodgers and Cameron Thomas -- may have been killed by friendly fire while conducting a night raid against an ISIS affiliate in eastern Afghanistan, the Pentagon said Friday.
In releasing the identities of Rodgers, 22, of Bloomington, Illinois, and Thomas, 23, of Kettering, Ohio, the Pentagon also said that the Army had begun a fact-finding Article 15-6 investigation into the circumstances of their deaths in Nangarhar province, less than a mile from the site where the Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb was dropped April 13.
"It is possible these Rangers were struck by friendly fire" at the outset of a three-hour firefight against fighters of the offshoot of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria known as Islamic State-Khorasan Province, or ISIS-K, said Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman.
Initial reports from the scene indicated that if it was friendly fire, it was not intentional, Davis said in playing down the possibility that Rodgers and Thomas may have been victims of a "green on blue" incident in which Afghan soldiers turned on their American advisers.
In a statement, U.S. Forces-Afghanistan also said that Rodgers and Thomas may have fallen to friendly fire. "We have informed both of their families of this possibility, and we have appointed a team to investigate the soldiers' deaths," the statement said.
U.S. Forces-Afghanistan said the main target of the raid was Abdul Hasib, the so-called "Emir" of ISIS-K who "exercised command and control over operations involving ISIS-K and their connections with the larger ISIS network."
Davis said Hasib may have been killed in the raid, but there was no immediate confirmation.
The raid began at about 10:30 p.m. local time as the assault force was inserted by helicopter in the Achin district of Nangarhar province and almost immediately came under fire from multiple directions. However, the Rangers and Afghan troops pressed on with the assault and killed as many as 35 of the ISIS-K fighters, Davis said.
During the assault, the Rangers and the Afghan forces had close-air support from AC-130 gunships, Apache attack helicopters and F-16 fighters, Davis said.
"If confirmed, the death of the 'Emir' and his associates will significantly degrade ISIS-K operations in Afghanistan and help reach our goal of destroying them in 2017," U.S. Forces-Afghanistan said.
Both Rodgers and Thomas joined the Army out of high school, and both were serving on their third overseas deployment , the service said in a statement.
After graduating from high school, Rodgers enlisted from his hometown of Bloomington, Illinois, in August 2013, and completed One Station Unit Training at Fort Benning , Georgia, as an infantryman, the Army said.
After graduating from the Basic Airborne Course, Rodgers was assigned to the Ranger Assessment and Selection Program 1, also at Benning. He graduated from RASP 1 and was then assigned to Company C, 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, where he served as a machine gunner, semi-automatic gunner, gun team leader and Ranger team leader, the Army said.
Rodgers' awards and decorations included the Ranger Tab, the Parachutist Badge and the Marksmanship Qualification Badge Expert-Rifle. He was also awarded the Army Achievement Medal, the Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal with Campaign Star, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Non-Commissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon, Army Service Ribbon, and the NATO Medal.
Thomas was born in August 1993 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. After graduating from high school, he enlisted from his hometown of Kettering, Ohio, in February 2012, and completed One Station Unit Training at Fort Benning as an infantryman.
After graduating from the Basic Airborne Course at Benning, Thomas graduated from RASP 1 and was then assigned to Company D, 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, where he served as an automatic rifleman, grenadier, and anti-armor specialist, the Army said.
Thomas' awards and decorations included the Joint Service Achievement Medal, the Army Achievement Medal, Joint Meritorious Unit Award, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal with Campaign Star, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Non-Commissioned Professional Development Ribbon, Army Service Ribbon, and the NATO Medal.
In the battle in which Rodgers and Thomas lost their lives, a third Ranger was wounded but was able to continue the fight, Davis said.
The deaths of Rodgers and Thomas bring the total number of U.S. troops killed in combat this year in Afghanistan to three. All were Special Forces .
Earlier this month, in the same area of Nangarhar province, Army Staff Sgt. Mark R. De Alencar , 37, of Edgewood, Maryland, was killed in a firefight with ISIS-K fighters. He died of injuries sustained when his unit came in contact with enemy forces using small-arms fire during combat operations, according to an April 10 Defense Department press release.
De Alencar was assigned to 1st Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), at Eglin Air Force Base , Florida.
In a statement, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said, "The families and fellow Rangers of Sgt. Joshua 'Josh' Rodgers and Sgt. Cameron Thomas have my respect and sympathies. Fighting alongside their Afghan partners, Josh and Cameron proved themselves willing to go into danger and impose a brutal cost on enemies in their path.
"They carried out their operation against ISIS-K in Afghanistan before making the ultimate sacrifice to defend our nation and our freedoms. Our nation owes them an irredeemable debt, and we give our deepest condolences to their families," Mattis said.
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A reminder that three more of American's finest were KIA...
Two members of the 75th Ranger Regiment, 3rd Battalion, the 3/75th.
One member of the 7th Special Forces Group
De Oppresso Liber (free the oppressed) Motto
Sua Sponte (of our own accord) Motto of the 75th Ranger Regiment.
RIP to two of the best and bravest. My thoughts are with their families and friends.
I can't get over how young they are and look.....
Sad, isn't it Randy. In the very prime of their lives, but there they are on the outside of the wire doing their duty.
Sadly, many people on NT prefer to piss and moan about politics and can't take a minute to honor those that are really know what freedom is all about.
For some reason and I don't know why, veterans and our fighting men and women, those who serve and return and even those who die, seem to have been forgotten around here lately, especially in some people's lust, even among Veterans, to get even many, many more of them killed. I just can't feature that. Just look at the faces of these two young men, especially Sgt, Rodgers. They should be shown dressed as Boy Scouts with Merit Badge sashes across their chests, not in Army uniforms. They are kids.
Instead they'll be laid to rest in full formal Ranger uniforms, as is proper, at home or at Arlington with the medals on their chests, dead of friendly fire. Their families will care and cry and grieve and guns will be fired and during or after Taps someone will hand the folded flag, probably to their wife or mother and say "On behalf of the President, the United States Army and a grateful nation, please accept this flag as a symbol of our appreciation of your loved one's honorable and faithful service." And then it will be that almost no one else will have noticed that they had even been alive. But we noticed Kavika. So at least that is something.
Yes, they'll pass into history, only their family and very close friends will remember.
It may be a violation of the rules, but I just had to bring this one back to the top. I can't let these young men go with so little notice from us.
I'm glad you did. I hadn't seen it before.
You mentioned how young they look. We've all been there, did we look that young? I've looked at pictures of myself before and I can't really tell, possibly because I know what's ahead for him.
I was barely 17 when I went into the USAF and I look at the graduation picture of our flight and I can't believe how young I looked. Hell I didn't even shave yet. Sgt Rodgers was just 22 and his picture, probably a few years ago, reminds me of me, just a kid. He looks like he barely shaved too. Both of them had their whole lives ahead of them and now it's all gone.
I don't know if you ever read the book, ''We Were Soldiers Once, and Young'' by Lt. General Harold Moore.
The first casualty is innocence.
I just read where another American was killed today in the battle for Mosul.
I only saw the movie, but it was an incredible one! I have got to order the book on Amazon. Is it better then the movie? The book usually is.
And the most who die are the innocent.
I just read where another American was killed today in the battle for Mosul.
Damn it!
The book is outstanding. A minute by minute account of the battle by Moore who was a company commander at the time and right in the middle of it.
As was Joe Galloway. He got a Bronze Star there, even though he was not in the Army and was in fact a combat reporter.
Galloway, along with Moore wrote the book, Randy.
A good friend of mine was there, Toby Braveboy. He survived but was killed by a drunk driver when he got back to the world.
The first casualty is innocence.
And usually the 2nd one is the truth. If these young men did die of friendly fire I commend the Army for being so forth coming with this and saying that they are investing it as such, unlike the death of another Army Ranger in Afghanistan years ago.
That BS re Pat Tillman was a huge black eye for the military.
It was to use a military term, a cluster fuck. The Army was determined to make sure that he remained a recruiting poster for them that they awarded him a Silver Star posthumously for losing his life for bravery under fire, when there was no fire fight in the first place! Then there was the rumor of was he murdered. And they didn't want it to come up that he was not a good Christian, but an atheist who was going to take his discharge and come out as an opponent to the war. He didn't fit the model of what the Army wanted him to fit, so they just lied, apparently not figuring that sooner or later the lies would all come out. Like I said, a cluster fuck.