Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Shades of Wanat

Five 101st Airborne soldiers were killed on Sunday by small arms fire in Afghanistan’s Kunar province — I am guessing in operations in the Pech Valley, which has been frisky lately. When I saw five had died, I first thought it must have been a big IED. But five being killed by small arms fire ...

U.S. Department of Defense
U.S. Department of Defense
U.S. Department of Defense

Five 101st Airborne soldiers were killed on Sunday by small arms fire in Afghanistan’s Kunar province — I am guessing in operations in the Pech Valley, which has been frisky lately.

When I saw five had died, I first thought it must have been a big IED. But five being killed by small arms fire feels like a patrol got ambushed or an outpost nearly got overrun, which reminds me of Wanat.

Here’s the Pentagon announcement:

They died Nov. 14 in Kunar province, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked their unit with small arms fire.

Killed were:

Spc. Shane H. Ahmed, 31, of Chesterfield, Mich.

Spc. Nathan E. Lillard, 26, of Knoxville, Tenn.

Spc. Scott T. Nagorski, 27, of Greenfield, Wis.

Spc. Jesse A. Snow, 25, of Fairborn, Ohio.

Pfc. Christian M. Warriner, 19, of Mills River, N.C.

They were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.

My condolences to their families and comrades.

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

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