Hawai'i Marine dies in Afghan mortar fire
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
A 20-year-old Marine who died Monday from enemy mortar fire in Afghanistan is the sixth Hawai'i-based Marine to be killed in the country since May.
The Pentagon said Lance Cpl. Steven A. Valdez of McRae, Ark., died in an attack on Camp Blessing, a small Special Forces outpost 20 miles from the border with Pakistan in Kunar province that was expanded into a Forward Operating Base.
Valdez joined the Marine Corps in June 2004 and reported to Hawai'i in November. He deployed in June to Afghanistan with more than 900 other Marines with the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, and was a machine gunner with Weapons platoon, Company E.
Valdez is survived by his mother and father, the Corps said. Family members could not be reached yesterday.
Lance Cpl. Ryan J. Nass, 21, of Franklin, Wis., died Sept. 3 from what the military said was a "nonhostile gunshot wound" at Camp Blessing.
On Aug. 18, Lance Cpl. Phillip George, 22, of the Houston suburb of Pasadena, was killed during combat operations when his unit was ambushed.
Lance Cpl. Kevin B. Joyce, 19, of Klagetoh, Ariz., died after falling into the Pech River on June 25. He was in a vehicle that tumbled off a cliffside road.
The Marines have been on seven-month rotations to Afghanistan, and the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, which returned in late June, also lost two Marines.
On May 8, Lance Cpl. Nicholas C. Kirven, 21, of Richmond, Va., and Cpl. Richard Schoener, 22, of Hayes, La., were killed during a firefight with insurgents in the Alishang district of Laghman province. Insurgents were chased into a cave, and the Marines were killed when they pursued them.
Camp Blessing, a former Taliban base named after Sgt. Jay Blessing, an Army Ranger killed in Afghanistan, has full Internet access, phones, washers and dryers, a gym and chow hall.
Marines with the 2nd Battalion took part in an August drive to oust rebels from the Korengal Valley after three Navy SEALs were killed in an ambush and all 16 soldiers on a helicopter sent to rescue them died when the chopper was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.
Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.
Correction: A previous version of this story misidentified the unit of Lance Cpl. Kevin B. Joyce. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment.
