[ad_1]
The identity of the third American soldier who died in Afghanistan in less than two weeks was revealed on Friday – a day after President Trump confirmed the plan to withdraw at least some of the nation's troops. South-Central Asia once US forces are assured that the country will not become a haven for other terrorist groups.
Sgt. 1st class, Dustin Ard, a green beret from Idaho, died Thursday in the Afghan province of Zabul. He is survived by his pregnant wife and a young girl. He would have turned 32 in October, the Washington Examiner reported.
Sgt. 1st class Dustin B. Ard
A TRUMP DIGS DURING THE COMMERCIAL WAR IN CHINA CONFIRMS THE AFGHANISTAN'S AFFECTIVITY THROUGH THE FOX NEWS RADIO INTERVIEW
The Green Beret was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group of the Lewis – McChord Joint Base in Washington, DC, and was a Special Forces Communications Sergeant. He has been deployed twice in Afghanistan and has also participated in multiple joint training exercises in Indonesia, said US Army Special Operations Command spokesman Lt. Col. Loren Bymer.
"Sgt. The loss of the 1st Ard class is being felt in our family of the 1st group of special forces, "said Colonel Owen Ray, commander of 1st Special Forces Group (airborne). "Our priority now is to care for our family and our soldiers and provide the best possible care during this time of incredible need."
Ard joined the army in 2011 as a special forces candidate via the 18X program, said Bymer. Ard was posted to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He passed the evaluation and selection of special forces and graduated from the special forces qualification course in 2015.
The green beret was posthumously awarded the bronze star medal and the purple heart. His other awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, the Army Achievement Medal, the Army Medal of Good Conduct, the National Defense Service Medal. , the Afghan Campaign Medal, the Service Medal of the World War on Terror, the Army Service Ribbon, the NATO Medal, the Special Forces of the Army and the Combat Insignia of infantry, said the army.
Ard is the third US service member to die in Afghanistan in less than two weeks. He died after disembarking from a helicopter at the start of a joint US Army Special Forces mission and Afghan commandos on Thursday, the New York Times reported for the first time. The US State Department gave no further explanation as to how the soldier was killed.
He was the 15th American soldier to die in Afghanistan this year, making 2019 the deadliest for US troops in Afghanistan since 2014, when the combat mission Operation Enduring Freedom officially ended, according to the Washington Examiner.
Last week, Sgt Master Luis DeLeon-Figueroa, 31, of Chicopee, Mass., And Master Sgt. Jose Gonzalez, 35, of La Puente, California, died from a shooting in the Afghan province of Faryab.
State of Idaho representative Rod Furniss announced Ard's death in a Facebook post on Friday. The message contained a photo of the deceased soldier in uniform, posing alongside family members, as well as a quote from his father, Bruce Ard. His father is also the former mayor of the city of Ammon, Idaho.
"We learned that we had lost our son, Dustin, to Afghanistan, my heart has a hole so big that I can not bear it, he was the best young man I've ever known. he was my son but because, "Bruce Ard said in the Facebook post.
"A big son, a brother, a father and a husband. He loved his country and was the kind of person we should all be. Son, I love you and I know we will meet again. I'll miss you every day I live without you. Daddy love, "said the post.
President Trump told Fox News Radio Thursday that the negotiators were working on a withdrawal of 14,000 US troops in Afghanistan to about 8,600, but they said the United States would maintain a "presence" in the country.
The United States and the Taliban are currently negotiating an agreement that US forces would withdraw in return for assurances that Afghanistan would not become a haven for other terrorist groups.
The United States invaded Afghanistan following the September 11, 2001, bombing of Operation Enduring Freedom, which has been going on for 18 years – the longest in US history. Operation Enduring Freedom ended in 2014, resulting in the withdrawal of most US troops from the country.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
In 2017, Trump ordered the dispatch of 4,000 additional troops to Afghanistan to assist Afghan forces and carry out counterterrorism operations against the Afghan subsidiary of the ISIS terrorist network and other extremist groups, including al Qaeda. Some 14,000 American soldiers remain in Afghanistan.
Brooke Singman, Melissa Leon and Fox News Associated Press contributed to this report.
[ad_2]
Source link