R.I.P. - Staff Sgt. Eric D. Christian, Cpl. David M. Sonka, MWD Flex

DOD Identifies Marine Casualties

            The Department of Defense announced today the death of two Marines who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

            They died May 4, while conducting combat operations in Farah province, Afghanistan. They were both assigned to 2nd Marine Special Operations Battalion, Camp Lejeune, N.C.  This incident is under investigation.

            Killed were:

            Staff Sgt. Eric D. Christian, 39, of Warwick, N.Y., and

            Cpl. David M. Sonka, 23, of Parker, Colo.

            For more information media may contact the Marine Special Operations Command public affairs office at 910-440-0770.

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The Department of Defense issued a statement Monday saying that Christian, 39, and Cpl. David M. Sonka, 23, of Parker, Colo. were killed “while conducting combat operations” and that the incident is still under investigation.

News accounts say that the Taliban has claimed responsibility for the incident.

Christian was a Staff Sergeant assigned to the 2nd Marine Special Operations Battalion at Camp Lejeune, N.C. and was working with a unit that was training an Afghan National Army soldier when the Afghani man allegedly turned his weapon on the Americans, killing the two Marines and a military dog, his brother said.

“We don’t have that many details because everything they do is very classified,” Phil Christian said.

The Afghani man was then shot and killed by the remaining members of his brother’s unit, he said.

from nbcnewyork.com
By Pei-Sze Cheng|Monday, May 6, 2013|Updated 4:50 PM EDT

Staff Sgt. Eric D. Christian of Warwick, N.Y. was one of two U.S. Marines killed in the Farah province of Afghanistan on Saturday, May 4, the Department of Defense said.

Christian, who grew up in New Jersey and graduated from Ramsey High School, was shot and killed in a "green on blue" attack, his brother Phillip told NBC 4 New York. It marks the second time in less than a year a soldier from the tri-state area was killed by an Afghani soldier whom he was training.

Christian was a decorated Marine with numerous medals and serving his fifth tour with the elite Marine Special Operations Command, his brother said. He left in the beginning of March and had just purchased a home in Wilmington, N.C.

His unit was based at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

Christian joined the Marines around 2003. He felt compelled to serve after Sept. 11 and after his younger brother Mark was called up to Iraq, Phillip Christian said.

The second oldest of four boys, Eric Christian was a star football player while at Ramsey High, according to Phillip.

Christian was not married and had no children.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered flags on state government buildings fly at half-staff on Thursday in Christian's honor.

---

Cpl. David M. Sonka, 23, of Parker, Colo., died May 4, while conducting combat operations in Farah province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Marine Special Operations Battalion, Camp Lejeune, N.C. Dave was serving his second deployment and had just arrived in Afghanistan a few weeks prior.
His dog, MWD Flex killed too.

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Publish Date: May 06, 2013

 

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In past 24 hours, Afghan National Police conducted several joint clearance operations with the cooperation of Afghan National Army, NDS and Coalition Forces to clean some of the areas from terrorists and enemies of peace and stability of Afghanistan.
 

The operations were conducted in Nangarhar, Parwan, Baghlan, Kunduz, Kandahar, Zabul, Uruzgan, Maidan Wardak,Ghazni, Logar, Khost, Farah, Ghor and Helmand provinces, as a result four armed Taliban were killed, four wounded and seven other armed Taliban were arrested by Afghan National Security Forces.                                                                                     
 

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