In Memoriam

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14 September 2011

US Army Sergeant Rodolfo "Rudy" Rodriguez Jr., age 26, from Pharr, Texas, was killed in action on 14th September 2011 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan. He died from injuries sustained from an enemy bomb blast.

Sgt. Rodriguez served with the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, based at Fort Wainwright, Alaska. He deployed to Afghanistan in August and was due home in December.

Sgt. Rodriguez leaves his wife Melissa, 7-year-old son Derek, 5-year-old daughter Kathlyn and his parents, Rodolfo and Cristella.

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Great Britain

British Lance Corporal Jonathan James McKinlay, of B Company, 1st Battalion The Rifles, was killed in action on 14th September 2001.

L-Cpl McKinlay deployed to Afghanistan as a battle casualty replacement in June 2011, having recently qualified as a Bravo Mortar Fire Controller. He was based in Checkpoint Chaabak in the Nahr-e Saraj (South) district of Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was killed by a burst of small arms fire while on patrol with his team and members of the Afghan Uniform Police (AUP) in a village near to his checkpoint.

Lieutenant Colonel James de Labillière DSO MBE, Commanding Officer, The First Battalion, The Rifles, said this about L-Cpl McKinlay: "To anyone who met him, Lance Corporal Jon McKinlay made an instant impression. On the one hand a hard professional soldier who demanded the very highest standards from himself and his men and yet on the other a man of great compassion, humour and somebody who had time for others. He had irrepressible energy and was industrious to the core."

He leaves behind a loving family - his wife, Lisa, his mother, Valerie, sister, Becca, daughter, Megan, and his stepchildren, Ollie and Piper.

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15 September 2011

Oklahoma National Guard Sergeant Mycal L. Prince was killed in action on 15th September 2011 in Laghman province, Afghanistan in a battle with enemy forces involving rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire.

28-year-old Sgt. Prince, from Minco, Oklahoma, joined the National Guard shortly after his 17th birthday and had deployed to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Iraq in 2008. He was a serving police officer with the Minco Police Department.

Maj. Gen. Myles L. Deering, adjutant general with the Oklahoma National Guard, paid tribute to Sergeant Prince saying the he "served his nation and this great state for more than a decade with honor and distinction.”

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15 September 2011

US Marine Corporal Michael J. Dutcher, age 22, from Asheville, North Carolina, died on 15th September while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

Cpl. Dutcher served with the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Pendleton, California. He deployed to Afghanistan in April this year and was due home in October.

Michael is survived by many loving family members and friends including his mother, Teresa, his twin brother Timothy, and his fiancée.

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2011 Foreign Fatalities - Afghanistan

* Australia: 7

* Azerbaijan: 6

* Canada: 3

* Czech: 1

* Denmark: 3

* Fiji: 1

* Finland: 1

* France: 23

* Georgia: 4

* Germany: 7

* Hungary: 2

* Italy: 5

* Jordan: 1

* NATO: 4

* Nepal: 4

* New Zealand: 2

* Norway: 1

* Poland: 7

* Romania: 3

* Spain: 4

* Sweden: 1

* UK: 34

* US: 329

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17 September 2011

27-year-old US Army Staff Sergeant Michael W. Hosey, from Birmingham, Alabama, was killed in action on 17th September 2011 during a battle with enemy forces in Uruzgan province, Afghanistan. He died from small arms fire injuries.

Staff Sgt. Hosey served with the 3rd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group, based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.

SSgt. Hosey joined the Army in 2001 as a Communications Intelligence Specialist. He served the 11th Military Intelligence Brigade as an instructor. In 2003, he was assigned to Fort Huachuca, Arizona, where he served as a Communications Intelligence Specialist. In 2005, he was assigned to Fort Lewis, Washington.

He has been posthumously awarded the Meritorious Service Medal, the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star Medal.

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17 September 2011

US Army Sergeant Garrick L. Eppinger Jr., died in Parwan province on 17th September 2011. This was his third deployment to Afghanistan.

Sgt. Eppinger, age 25, from Appleton, Wisconsin, served with the 395th Ordnance Company, 687th Combat Sustainment Support Brigade, 646th Regional Support Group, based at Wausau, Wisconsin.

Article from local paper.