[taxthedeer]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45912744/ns/lo...n/#.TwmH9G9SSuo

By Eric Olson
WISE-TV
updated 1/7/2012 6:47:09 PM ET

VALPARAISO, Indiana (Indiana's NewsCenter)--Four Indiana National Guard soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan. The soldiers were from the 713th Engineer Company based in Valparaiso. They were killed during combat route clearance operations.
Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels said today that it was hard to convey the sadness the news instantly brought to him.
The soldiers are identified as Staff Sgt. Jonathan M. Metzger of Indianapolis, Spc. Brian J. Leonhardt of Merrillville, Spc. Christopher A. Patterson of Aurora, Illinois and Spc. Robert J. Tauteris, Jr. of Hamlet, Indiana.
Officials say the guard is giving full attention and resources to support the families of the soldiers.

[Southsider2k12]

How awful.

Rest in peace.

[Southsider2k12]

http://posttrib.suntimes.com/9904221-537/4...rned-to-us.html

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The bodies of four members of an Indiana National Guard unit killed in a roadside bombing in Afghanistan have been returned to the U.S.

Guard officials say the remains arrived Sunday night at Delaware’s Dover Air Force Base during a ceremony attended by their families and senior military officials, including Indiana Adjutant General Martin Umbarger.

Umbarger said the men should be honored as “faithful warriors.”

The remains of 32-year-old Staff Sgt. Jonathan Metzger of Indianapolis; 21-year-old Spc. Brian Leonhardt of Merrillville, 44-year-old Spc. Robert Tauteris of Hamlet; and Valparaiso University student Spc. Christopher Patterson, 20, of Aurora, Ill., are expected to be returned to Indiana and Illinois within two weeks.

The four men died Thursday when their vehicle struck a bomb in Kandahar province. All were members of the Valparaiso-based 713th Engineer Company.

[Southsider2k12]

The rumor is that more of the dead and injured are from IN

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-p...monP_story.html

10 killed in Taliban attack on government building in east Afghanistan

Smaller Text Larger Text Text Size
Print
E-mail
Reprints

By Associated Press,

KABUL, Afghanistan — Taliban insurgents stormed a government building in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, setting off a firefight that killed 10 people, the Interior Ministry said, the latest sign of insurgent strength after a decade of war.

A statement said three attackers broke into a communications building in Sharan, the provincial capital, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Kabul.

0

Comments

Weigh In
Corrections?

In the ensuing firefight two of the attackers set off their suicide bomb vests, it said. In addition to the three attackers, three policemen and four employees of the Telecommunications Ministry were killed in the attack, the statement said. Two officers and a civilian were injured.

The Taliban claimed responsibility and said it involved multiple targets. In a statement emailed to journalists, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the governor’s office, the provincial reconstruction team and the intelligence headquarters were all hit.

The ministry, however, said only one building was attacked.

Paktika province borders Pakistan and is one of the main routes for Taliban fighters infiltrating into eastern Afghanistan from their sanctuaries across the border. It is also one of the main strongholds of the al-Qaida-linked Haqqani network, which has been blamed for a series of spectacular attacks, including suicide bombings inside Kabul.

Elsewhere, a joint Afghan and coalition force killed seven suspected insurgents and captured 30 in Balkh province, 180 miles (300 kilometers) north of Kabul. A military statement said the guerrillas used rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire to engage the security force. Caches of homemade explosives, pressure-plate bombs, weapons and ammunition were seized.

An explosion in Kunar province killed two Afghan soldiers, military spokesman Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi said. Six soldiers and four civilians were also killed in the blast.

In a separate development, officials said the U.S. and NATO are continuing to reorient their supply lines toward to the so-called Northern Distribution Network through Russia and Central Asia, rather than through Pakistan, which served as the main conduit for the logistics chain in the past.

Pakistan shut down the alliance’s main transit routes from the port of Karachi in November in response to a NATO air attack on a Pakistani border post that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

About 85 percent of military fuel supplies now passes through the northern route, said a U.S. official who could not be identified under standing rules. Nearly a third of other supplies that used to arrive through Pakistan are now using the alternate route.

For most of the 10-year war in Afghanistan, 90 percent of supplies shipped to the international force came through Pakistan, via the port of Karachi. Over the past three years, road and rail shipments from NATO’s European members through Central Asia have expanded. Before the border incident, they accounted for more than half of all overland deliveries.

___

Associated Press reporters Rahim Faiez and Ahmen Massieh Neshad contributed to this report.

[Southsider2k12]

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/me..._medium=twitter

Funeral arrangements set for M'ville soldier

By Chas Reilly chas.reilly@nwi.com, (219) 662-5324 | Posted: Wednesday, January 11, 2012 1:45 pm | No
Brian Leonhardt, of Merrillville, was one of four soldiers from the Indiana National Guard's Valparaiso-based 713th Engineer Company killed Friday in Afghanistan by a roadside bomb.

MERRILLVILLE | The body of the Merrillville solider killed in Afghanistan last week will arrive Monday at the Gary/Chicago International Airport, the soldier's father said Wednesday.

Bob Leonhardt Jr. said all of the details of the arrival were not immediately available Wednesday morning.

His son, Sgt. Brian J. Leonhardt, 21, was one of four Indiana National Guardsmen killed Friday morning when their vehicle struck a bomb while clearing roadside bombs along a supply route in southern Afghanistan.

Bob Leonhardt said the wake for his son is scheduled from 2 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Memory Lane Mausoleum Chapel, 6305 W. U.S. 30 in Schererville.

The funeral is at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the First Baptist Church of Hammond, 473 Sibley St. Burial will follow at Memory Lane's cemetery.

The soldiers killed alongside Brian Leonhardt were Spc. Christopher A. Patterson, a Valparaiso University student from Aurora, Ill.; Staff Sgt. Jonathan M. Metzger, of Indianapolis; and Spc. Robert J. Tauteris Jr., of Hamlet, Ind.

They were members of the Valparaiso-based 713th Engineer Company.

Pfc. Doug Rachowicz, 29, of Hammond, was the only survivor of the explosion. He suffered broken bones, bruised lungs and extensive damage to his face.

Doctors were expected to begin his first surgery of many Wednesday.

Read more: http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/me...l#ixzz1jBYE4bms