Marine from Fort Atkinson killed in Afghanistan

A Marine from Fort Atkinson died late Sunday in southwest Afghanistan. Lance Cpl. Jacob A. Meinert, 20, or "Slim," as he was known to his company mates, died while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, according to Maj. Alan Crouch, public affairs officer for the Hawaii Marine base where Meinert was stationed.

Meinert was a member of the III Marine Expeditionary Force and in the Marines' 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, according to a release from the Department of Defense.

For such a young man, Meinert was a combat veteran, Crouch said. His deployment to Afghanistan in November was his second with his unit, which had returned just eight months earlier from an eight-month deployment to Iraq, he said. He joined the Marines in July 2007, Crouch said. Crouch said he could not release further information about how Meinert died.

Meinert was a radio telephone operator, one of the "more technically advanced" roles in his Marine unit, Crouch said. He was awarded the Purple Heart, National Defense Service medal, Global War on Terrorism Service medal and the Afghanistan and Iraq Campaign medals, he said. Meinert's death comes as a U.S. troop buildup gets under way in earnest.

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