Nine N.C. service members killed in a week

Fort Bragg, N.C. — Eight Fort Bragg soldiers and one Camp Lejeune Marine were killed in Afghanistan and Pakistan in the past nine days.

The men served with the 82nd Airborne Division and the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, both of which are based at Fort Bragg, and the II Marine Expeditionary Force, which is based at Camp Lejeune.

The Department of Defense announced Saturday that Sgt. Dillion Foxx, 22, a forward observer with the 82nd Airborne Division's 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, died Friday. An improvised explosive device detonated while his unit was patrolling Afghanistan's Murghab District.

Three Special Operations soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in Pakistan Wednesday: Sgt. 1st Class David J. Hartman, 27, and Sgt. 1st Class Matthew S. Sluss-Tiller, 35, both with the 95th Civil Affairs Brigade, and Staff Sgt. Mark A. Stets, 39, with the 4th Psychological Operations Group.

The men were helping train the paramilitary Frontier Corps and Pakistan's army in a lawless tribal region near the Afghan border. The blast flattened a nearby school and killed three schoolgirls and a Pakistani soldier traveling with the Americans.

Capt. Daniel Whitten, 28, and Pfc. Zachary Lovejoy, 20 – also members of the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment – died Tuesday when the vehicle they were driving struck an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan's Zabul Province.

Lance Cpl. Michael L. Freeman Jr., 21, with II Marine Expeditionary Force, was killed Monday while supporting combat operations in Afghanistan's Helmand Province.

Capt. David J. Thompson, 39, with the 3rd Special Forces Group, and Spc. Marc P. Decoteau, 19, with the 4th Psychological Operations Group, were killed Jan. 29 while supporting combat operations in Afghanistan's Wardak province.