A Joint Base Lewis-McChord Stryker sergeant died this week from wounds he suffered earlier this month when he encountered an improvised explosive in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, the Defense Department announced Thursday.
Sgt. Louis Torres, 23, of Oberlin, Ohio, was a combat veteran who was assigned to the base for most of his career. He was serving on his second deployment with Lewis-McChord’s 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division.
On this tour, Torres belonged to a conventional infantry unit that trained to work with Special Operations Forces in Afghanistan by guarding outposts and supporting raids.
Torres served with the brigade’s 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, a roughly 700-soldier unit tasked with assisting Special Operators such as Navy SEALs and Army Green Berets in several provinces across southern Afghanistan.
Torres joined the Army in June 2008 and had been with Lewis-McChord units since October of that year. He served with the 3rd Brigade in Iraq from August 2009 to June 2010, when it was one of the last combat brigades to fight there.
Twenty-four Lewis-McChord soldiers have died in Afghanistan this year, with most falling to homemade bombs in the Taliban heartland of Kandahar province.
Torres deployed in December and was wounded on Aug. 6.
He died Wednesday in San Antonio, the home of Brooke Army Medical Center. The hospital is equipped to deliver advanced care for burn victims and amputees.
adam.ashton@ thenewstribune.com 253-597-8646 blog.thenewstribune.com/military
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