Military deaths

The Defense Department last week identified the following American military personnel killed in Afghanistan and Iraq:

Florence B. Choe, 35, of El Cajon, Calif.; lieutenant, Navy. Choe was one of two military personnel killed Friday when an insurgent posing as an Afghan National Army soldier opened fire on U.S. military personnel. Choe was assigned to Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan at Camp Shaheen in Mazar-E-Sharif, Afghanistan.

Jose R. Escobedo Jr., 32, of Albuquerque; sergeant, Army. Escobedo died March 20 in Baghdad of noncombat-related injuries suffered a day earlier at Forward Operating Base Kalsu in Iskandariya, Iraq, southeast of the capital. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 77th Field Artillery Regiment in Schweinfurt, Germany.

Raphael A. Futrell, 26, of Anderson, S.C.; staff sergeant, Army. Futrell died of noncombat-related injuries Wednesday in Baghdad. He was assigned to the 13th Military Police Detachment, 728th Military Police Battalion, 8th Military Police Brigade, 8th Theater Sustainment Command at Ft. Shafter, Hawaii.

Daniel J. Geary, 22, of Rome, N.Y.; lance corporal, Marine Corps. Geary was killed March 20 when a roadside bomb exploded near his Humvee in southern Afghanistan’s Farah province, on the Iranian border. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Adam J. Hardt, 19, of Avondale, Ariz.; private first class, Army. Hardt died of noncombat-related injuries March 22 at Forward Operating Base Airborne in Afghanistan’s Wardak province, southwest of Kabul. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) at Ft. Drum, N.Y.

Michael W. Ouellette, 28, of Manchester, N.H.; corporal, Marine Corps. Ouellette was one of two Marines killed in combat March 22 in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, southwest of Kabul. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Francis L. Toner IV, 26, of Narragansett, R.I.; lieutenant junior grade, Navy. Toner was one of two military personnel killed Friday when an insurgent posing as an Afghan National Army soldier opened fire on U.S. military personnel. Toner was assigned to Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan at Camp Shaheen in Mazar-E-Sharif, Afghanistan.

Anthony L. Williams, 21, of Oxford, Pa.; corporal, Marine Corps. Williams was one of two Marines killed in combat March 22 in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, southwest of Kabul. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

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Sources: Department of Defense, Times staff reports and the Associated Press

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)War casualties

TOTAL U.S. DEATHS*

* In and around Iraq: 4,263

* In and around Afghanistan: 600

* Other locations: 67

* Includes military and Department of Defense-employed civilian personnel killed in action and in nonhostile circumstances as of Friday

Source: Department of Defense

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latimes.com/wardead

Remembering California’s war dead

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