Special Forces Community Losses

Last week, six US Army Special Forces soldiers, known as Green Berets, lost their lives in three separate incidents.They all died between Wednesday and Friday of last week.Two were killed in the Afghan province of Kunduz during intense fighting there with Taliban insurgents. They were killed during a “train, advise and assist” mission while partnered with Afghan troops. The two Green Berets were identified as Capt. Andrew Byers and Sgt. 1^st Class Ryan Gloyer. Both were assigned to the 10th Special Forces Group in Fort Carson, Colorado.The operation in which they were killed claimed the lives of over 60 Taliban, but 26 civilians and three Afghan soldiers also lost their lives during the fighting.

New missions require Special Forces expertise

Three other Green Berets were killed in Jordan while entering a military base.Staff Sgt. Matthew Lewellen, Staff Sgt. Kevin McEnroe and Staff Sgt. James Moriarty died during an incident that is still under investigation. Jordanian military officials have said the shots were fired as a car containing the Americans attempted to enter the al-Jafr base near the southern Jordanian town of Mann.Those Green Berets were all from Kentucky, assigned to the 5^th Special Forces Group.The United States military maintains about 2,000 troops in Jordan at any given time, in order to train the Kingdom’s military and help in the fight against ISIS.The final Green Beret killed last week was Staff Sgt. David Whitcher, assigned to 1st Special Warfare Training Group. He died during a dive training exercise in Florida.The modern era of advise, train and assist operations in several different countries have put the Green Berets, the military's experts on partnering with indigenous forces, at the forefront of combat in multiple theaters. The Special Forces community suffered two other deaths this month, as well as multiple casualties in places like the Helmand and Nangarhar Provinces of Afghanistan.