A Marine carry team loads a transfer case containing the remains of Sgt. Christopher Diaz into a transfer vehicle Saturday, Oct. 1, 2011 at Dover Air Force Base, Del. According to the Department of Defense, Diaz, 27, of Albuquerque, N.M., died Sept. 28, 2011 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)
PVT Danny Chen, 19, of NY, died Oct. 3 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Wainwright, AK.
1SGT Billy J. Siercks, 32, of Velda Village, MO, died Sept. 28 in Landstuhl, Germany, of wounds suffered Sept. 27 in Logar, Afghanistan when insurgents attacked his unit using indirect fire. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 10th Aviation Regiment, 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, NY.
Petty Officer 1st Class (SEAL) Caleb A. Nelson, 26, of Omaha, NE,died after his vehicle struck an improvised explosive device while conducting a combat patrol in Zabul province, Afghanistan on Oct.1. Nelson was assigned to an East Coast-based Naval Special Warfare unit, Norfolk, VA.
U.S. War Dead in Afghanistan Have Tripled in Less Than 3 Years Under Obama
President Barack Obama has not yet served three full years as commander in chief, but the number of U.S. casualties in the 10-year-old Afghanistan war has now tripled since Obama was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2009.On that day, the total casualty count for the then-7-year-old Afghan war was 569. As of Sept. 30 of this year, it was 1,698.
The 1,129 additional U.S. casualties in Afghanistan since Obama took office equals 66.5 percent of all U.S. casualties there for the duration of the war.
With three months still to go, 2011 is already the second deadliest year of the war.
