A Tucson soldier, Army Staff Sgt. Orion N. Sparks, was killed Wednesday in Afghanistan, the Department of Defense said Friday.
Sparks, twenty-nine, and another soldier were killed in Pul-E Alam, Afghanistan, when an insurgent wearing a suicide vest detonated the bomb near their patrol.
The soldiers were serving with the 1st Squadron, 91st Cavalry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team. The Schweinfurt, Germany-based unit was deployed in Logar province in eastern Afghanistan.
Including Sparks' death, fifty-two troops with Southern Arizona connections have been killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars; twenty in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion of that country.
The other soldier who was killed in the incident was identified as Sgt. Jonathan A. Gollnitz, twenty-eight, of Lakehurst, N.J.
Sparks "touched the lives of many soldiers during his time in Anvil. He is remembered as a contagious optimist who was always in good spirits. Someone that could relate to soldiers on a personal level and helped guide them through life. Orion was an outstanding trainer of soldiers and a leader who was not afraid to get his hands dirty and lead from the front. A true NCO to the end. He was a cornerstone in Anvil Troop," said a statement posted by Lt. Col. Whit Wright, the 173rd Airborne's commander.
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