[furillo]

Sgt. Randy M. Haney, 27, of Orlando, Fla., died Sept. 6 in Nangarhar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit using small arms and rocket-propelled grenade fires. He was assigned to the 2nd Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo. 2nd Lt. Darryn D. Andrews, 34, of Dallas, Texas, died Sept. 4 in Paktika Province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device and a rocket-propelled grenade. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska. Lance Cpl. Christopher S. Baltazar Jr., 19, of San Antonio, Texas, died Sept. 3 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C. Petty Officer 3rd Class Benjamin P. Castiglione, 21, of Howell, Mich., died Sept. 3 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Battalion. The Department of Defense announced today the death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died Sept. 3 in Baqubah, Iraq, of injuries sustained during a vehicle roll-over. The soldiers were assigned to the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.


Killed were:
Staff Sgt. Todd W. Selge, 25, of Burnsville, Minn.; and
Spc. Jordan M. Shay, 22, of Salisbury, Mass.
The incident is under investigation. I have yet to see this on the news. Plenty of talk about two upcoming speeches by Obama, neither of which is about Afghanistan. Luckily there are plenty of good things going on that these soldiers are dying to protect. Also not covered in the MSM.

The United States Government and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) have started construction work on the Ghazi Boys High School and the Sardar Kabuli Girls High School in Kabul, Afghanistan. When completed in 2010, these USAID-funded schools will provide modern classrooms, laboratories, and other learning facilities for approximately 10,000 Afghan high school students. The schools are being designed and constructed to international seismic safety standards to prevent tragic school collapses during earthquakes like those in Pakistan in 2005 and China in 2008.

The final designs for both Kabul high schools fully comply with the 2006 International Building Code, which is considered the most stringent engineering standard in use today. As a result, the Sardar Kabuli Girls High School will be the most structurally sound multi-story building in Afghanistan. These design standards have also been incorporated in design modifications for Ghazi Boys High School and numerous other USAID building projects across the country.

UNOPS awarded the Ghazi Boys High School contract to EDE Construction Company, a Turkey-based contractor that has successfully completed several similar building projects in Kabul including the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development offices and the Headquarters of the Afghan Customs Directorate. The contractor for Sardar Kabuli Girls High School, FCEC/UIP, is a joint-venture between a local Afghan-owned construction firm and a US-based project management and engineering firm.