30 U.S. Troops Killed in Afghanistan

It was a deadly weekend in Afghanistan for U.S forces, the deadliest since the war began nearly ten years ago.

The heartbreaking reality of war, from Stars and Stripes:

On Sunday evening, the small contingent of U.S. troops stationed at Kiwi Base in Bamiyan, one of Afghanistan’s calmest places, stood in the vanishing light and considered the news emerging from one of the war’s worst battlefields. It seemed a world away.

Maj. Richard Ojeda, 40, smoked a cigarette and thought of a hard and intimate detail: informing the families of the dead.

“Right now, there’s ... families that are just gonna be heartbroken,” he said. “That’s what I think of first.”

Thirty U.S. servicemembers, including Navy SEALs, and eight Afghans were killed when their helicopter was shot down in the Tangi Valley in neighboring Wardak province.

Ojeda knew the sadness of it first-hand. He is now a security forces assistance team member with the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 4th Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, but he once served as a casualty notification officer in the U.S.

“I have had to knock on doors and I have seen that pain,” he said. “Units like that, the SEALs, the aviation guys, they’re very close-knit communities. They all know each other. This is huge.”

Loved ones remember 30 fallen troops.

Some had young children, wives and girlfriends. Others were just starting to make their way in the world.

But the 30 brothers, fathers, sons and uncles who died when a U.S. military helicopter was shot down in eastern Afghanistan all had something in common: a love of family and country, according to friends and family members. Those who knew them said the soldiers were aware of the dangers they faced but were dedicated to their mission — even if it meant giving their lives.

Read some of their stories.

God bless the fallen and their loved ones.