101st Airborne loses 11 soldiers in one week

The 101st Airborne Division has taken a heavy hit in Iraqi combat with 11 deaths reported last week.

Five soldiers with the 101st were killed Saturday and five others were wounded in a pair of roadside bombings in northern Iraq. Those soldiers were on patrol near Bayji. They have not been identified.

On Thursday, the military identified four soldiers with the division who were killed near Taji, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device went off near their Humvee.

Two other Fort Campbell soldiers were identified yesterday as dying in Iraq last week. Spc. Vernon R. Widner, 34, of Redlands, Calif., and Pfc. Anthony Alex Gaunky, 19, of Sparta, Wis., died from injuries suffered Thursday near Bayji, Iraq, Fort Campbell spokesman John Minton said.



http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051121/NEWS08/511210343/1025/NEWS

My Son is with the Screaming Eagles. He is in support duty. This tears me up. I will pray for their families.

his mates.

edit: Welcome to DU (and thanks for your service as well).

these recent increased attacks, and deaths, on John Murtha's statements.

101st Airborne - specifically, E(asy) Company - was the focus of the book (and the miniseries of the same name) by the late Stephen Ambrose.

Rest in peace...:( :patriot:

the first black students into Central High School? And now they are dying in this desert misadventure. So sad.

Has the press been taken over by libertarians or something? Somehow the only damage to a human being that matters is complete and irrevocable death. Everything short of that doesn't seem to matter.

A unit's cohesion breaks down for many reasons, but attrition is one of the biggest.

Horseback rider, Monty Python fan, French horn player, football team manager.

Now organ donor.

recruiter sir? I want to be the best of the best. Hoo Rah
Another one bites the dust.