The U.S. Army has posthumously awarded Bronze Stars and Purple Hearts to three soldiers killed in Afghanistan Saturday. The men were all based at Fort Campbell. Their identities have been confirmed, but the military only says they died of “gunshot wounds.” Otherwise, the incident is under investigation.
“We take this as a family loss,” 101st Airborne Commander Andrew Poppas said in a statement, adding that his troops would “continue the fight against terrorism with unbridled determination.”
Afghan officials
tell the Associated Press that it was a so-called “green on blue” attack. The Taliban claims it infiltrated the unit precisely to turn on foreign soldiers. The uniformed attacker was also killed in the process.
As overall fatalities have declined in Afghanistan, insider attacks have become one of the
biggest threats to coalition troops.
These three soldiers were all part of the 101
st Airborne Division’s 3
rd Brigade Combat Team, nicknamed the Rakkasans. The unit
sent 1,400 troops starting in the fall. One of the men killed, 22-year-old Corporal Dillon Baldridge
posted on Facebook a month ago that he was getting excited about coming home soon.
The wife of Sargent Eric Houck
put a photo of the two on Instagram, saying she hoped his death “was all a bad dream” and that she would do all she could do for their children. Sargent William Bays’ hometown sheriff’s department in San Bernadino County
posted that the nation will forever be indebted to all three men.
Fort Campbell lost three soldiers in another attack
just six months ago. They were special operations forces returning to a base in Jordan and were killed by friendly forces, though a spokesman called it an accident.
This post has been updated with new information from the 101st Airborne PAO
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