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Soldier dies after possible friendly fire

GRANITE FALLS, Minn. — An Army sergeant killed in Afghanistan believed in his mission battling “thugs and hoodlums,” his father said.

Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Ryan Kahler, 29, of Granite Falls, died Saturday after being shot in Waygul. The Defense Department said Kahler may have been hit by friendly fire from an Afghan guard who mistook him for the enemy.

Kahler, who served in Iraq as well as Afghanistan, thought often of his family, his father Ron said on Monday.

“He told me there is a group of thugs and hoodlums who want to rule the world,” Ron Kahler said. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were about keeping the world safe from those people, Kahler said.

Matthew Kahler and his wife, Vicki, have a 4-year-old daughter. The family had been stationed in Vicenza, Italy, for about eight years, his father said.

Ron Kahler said he advised his son to join the Special Forces when Matthew Kahler joined the Army the summer of his junior year at Yellow Medicine East High School. Special Forces would teach Matthew how to survive, his father believed.

Matthew took his father’s advice. He was a member of 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team.

“But now, he’s coming home but he’s not coming home alive,” Kahler said.

Students and staff at Yellow Medicine East High School were absorbing the news of Matthew’s death on Monday. Many of his nieces and nephews are students, Principal Karen Norell said.

Matthew Kahler graduated in 1997; his wife also attended the school.

Rene Diebold of Marshall said Kahler was a longtime friend of her son Dixon.

“As a high school student, (Matthew) was just one of those kids who came over and when you invited him to dinner he was so appreciative and so respectful,” Diebold said.

Dixon Diebold remembered starting a stereo shop in Granite Falls with Kahler when the two were young teenagers. “It was less business and more goofing off,” Diebold said of the pair’s business venture. He also remembered Kahler as a “kind of scrawny” wrestler in high school who always seemed to be competing despite being in pain.

“He was one of the most loyal people,” Diebold said. “I’m sure that’s the way he was with his men.”

Ron Kahler said his son first wanted to be in the military when he was around 10 years old. Matthew was happy with what he was doing, his father said.

Kahler was born in Iowa and lived in Montevideo for several years before he eventually moved to Granite Falls in about 1989, Ron Kahler said.

Funeral arrangements were pending.