On Wednesday the Department of Defense made the following announcement:
Sgt. 1st Class Carlos M. Santos-Silva, 32, of Clarksville, Tenn., died March 22 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
Four other servicemembers were injured in the attack. The commander of the second battalion, Lt. Col. Guy Jones, said:
All of these men are brave soldiers that we can be proud of and honor with respect....They were part of us and will remain among us.
Carlos Santos-Silva came from a military family. He was born on an army base in Germany and moved around the country as a child when his father was posted to various military bases. When he joined the army in August of 1996, he was able to serve with both his father and his brother at Fort Campbell in Kentucky. His father retired from the military in 2000.
Sgt. Santos-Silva enlisted in the army as a military supply specialist and completed his basic training at Fort Knox in Kentucky. He initially served with the 101st Airborne Devision. In 2000, he became an infantryman with the 10th Mountain Division. He was deployed to Kosovo in 2001 and subsequently completed two tours of duty in Iraq.
After returning from Iraq, Santos-Silva became a drill sergeant at Fort Benning in Georgia. While serving in Georgia, he attended Basic Airborne School. He reported to Fort Bragg in February of 2009 and left for Afghanistan with the 4th brigade combat team six months later. He was serving as a platoon sergeant at the time of his death.
Master Sgt. Gary Qualls, a spokesman for the 82nd Airborne said that:
It was a mounted patrol....He was in the Humvee, but he didn't make it. ~source
His father last spoke to Carlos about three weeks ago.
"He was doing well," the father said. "He loved what he was doing, and he treated his soldiers like sons. His wife talked to him Sunday night. He would have been coming home in three weeks on leave, but he delayed that so he could be there for their 12th anniversary." ~source
Sgt. 1st Class Santos-Silva was a heavily decorated soldier. His awards
include:
the Bronze Star Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Achievement Medal with three Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters, the Army Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Kosovo Campaign Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal with Campaign Star, the Iraqi Campaign Medal with Campaign Star and the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal.
Sgt. Santos-Silva leaves behind a wife, Kristin, and a son, Cameron. His parents, Fransisco and Monika, live in Knoxville, TN. A memorial service will be held in Sgt. Santos-Silva's honor in Afghanistan. He will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery next month.
Thank you, Sgt. Santos-Silva for your selfless service to our country. Poppies are the universal symbols of remembrance, and we will never forget your bravery and your honor.
The purpose of the I Got the News Today series is to honor service members who have died as a result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; its title is a reminder that almost every day a military family gets the terrible news about a loved one.
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