Blue to Gold: ARMY Capt. James D. Nehl

ARMY Capt. James D. Nehl, thirty-seven, of Gardiner, Oregon, died November 9, in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan.

An Oregon Coast man serving as a captain in the US Army in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan, was shot and killed Friday on patrol, the US Department of Defense said. 

Capt. James D. Nehl, thirty-seven, was from Gardiner, a small community on the north bank of the Umpqua River near Reedsport in Douglas County.

Nehl was killed by small arms fire while patrolling during combat operations, officials said. Nehl served in Operation Enduring Freedom, the joint American, British, and Afghan military campaign in Afghanistan.

Nehl was based at Fort Riley, Kansas, where he was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division.

Nehl was the eighth Douglas County military service member to die in Afghanistan or in Iraq since 2005, according to news reports and military databases.

The Oregon Military Department lists 136 soldiers from Oregon or with ties to Oregon who have died in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. He was the 28th Oregon soldier killed in Afghanistan, according to iCasualties.org.

FreedomRemembered.com lists Nehl as the 36th soldier from Oregon or with close Oregon ties to die serving Operation Enduring Freedom since its start in 2001.