The Pentagon on Friday released the identity of a U.S. soldier who had been killed this week in counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan.
Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Andrew Celiz, 32, from Summerville, S.C., was shot while supporting a medical evacuation in Paktia province, which is south of the capital Kabul and on the eastern border with Pakistan.
He was a battalion mortar platoon sergeant with the Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment out of Georgia and was operating under the Pentagon’s combat missions called Operation Freedom’s Sentinel that targets terror groups in Afghanistan.
“Sgt. 1st Class Celiz led from the front and always put himself at the decisive point on the battlefield,” said Lt. Col. Sean McGee, the commander of the 75th Ranger Regiment battalion, in a statement. “He was a loving husband and father, and he and his family have been an important part of the fabric that represents 1st Ranger Battalion and the Savannah community.”
Celiz is the second American to die in Afghanistan in less than a week, and the fourth so far this year. He had previously been deployed to the Iraq war as well as Afghanistan.
So far in 2018, the Pentagon has announced the deaths of 18 U.S. service members worldwide, including five under non-combat circumstances.
