The 700 soldiers of Nevada’s Wildhorse cavalry knew going in six months ago they would face some hairy situations in Afghanistan with roadside bombs and the reckless enemy who plants them.
Military
They slosh across creeks and stalk through cornfields, hunting down enemy combatants on the outskirts of Afghan villages. Every day since arriving five months ago, Nevada Army National Guard soldiers on foot and on the road have been performing a task they’ve spent years training for: patrolling.
When Ron Portillo is ready to sleep at night, he doesn’t just go to bed, as he once did.
The skyline of “Gotham City” appeared in stark contrast Thursday to chiseled mountains and desolate valleys that surround this mock Mojave Desert town.
Las Vegas Army Sgt. Josue E. Hernandez-Chavez was a veteran combat soldier with six deployments under his belt when his helicopter crashed Monday, killing him and nine others from a special operations team who were returning from a fierce firefight with the Taliban in western Afghanistan.
Another soldier from Nevada has been killed in Afghanistan, the second Silver State-related casualty in a week, according to the Department of Defense.
Army Pfc. Kimble A. Han, a former Cheyenne High School student, was killed Friday in a roadside bomb attack in Afghanistan along with another soldier, Department of Defense officials reported Monday.
RENO — Funeral services for a Reno soldier killed in Afghanistan are tentatively scheduled for Saturday.
RENO — Friends say a Reno soldier was among eight killed during a weekend firefight against insurgents in Afghanistan.
A former Army Reserve sergeant whose family says his Iraq war experiences led to an outburst last year that left him and a Nye County sheriff’s deputy with gunshot wounds pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity Tuesday to several charges, including attempted murder.
WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Monday asked the State Department and Pentagon to investigate the electrocution of a 25-year-old private security contractor while showering in his dormitory in Baghdad.
CARSON CITY — A 20-year-old soldier from Fernley has been killed in Iraq.
WASHINGTON — A Henderson man who worked for a State Department contractor has been electrocuted while showering in Baghdad even as U.S. authorities in Iraq try to remedy bathhouse wiring problems that have led to the deaths of U.S. troops there.
Editor’s note: This is the second in a collection of periodic essays from Afghanistan by Lt. Col. Scott Cunningham, commander of the 1st Squadron, 221st Cavalry, the largest overseas deployment of Nevada National Guard troops.
A suicide bomber attacked a marketplace in Afghanistan on Wednesday near where Nevada Army National Guard soldiers are serving, killing the country’s deputy intelligence chief and 22 others who were leaving a mosque near the city’s main bazaar, authorities said.