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5 Fort Carson soldiers killed in Afghanistan

FORT CARSON, Colo. — Five Fort Carson soldiers were killed when their unit was attacked with an improvised bomb in Afghanistan, the Defense Department said Wednesday.

The soldiers killed in Monday’s attack were identified as Capt. Dale A. Goetz, 43, of White, S.D.; Staff Sgt. Jesse Infante, 30, of Cypress, Texas; Staff Sgt. Kevin J. Kessler, 32, of Canton, Ohio; Staff Sgt. Matthew J. West, 36, of Conover, Wis.; and Pfc. Chad D. Clements, 26, of Huntington, Ind.

West was assigned to the 71st Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group. The others were part of the 4th Infantry Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team, which arrived in Afghanistan this summer.

The attack happened in the Arghandab River Valley, a lush and heavily mined Taliban stronghold.

Clements’ family in Huntington, Ind., told WTHR-TV that he died as a Humvee he was in was hit by an explosion near Kandahar. West’s family in Michigan told the Traverse City Record-Eagle that the attack happened in the Arghandab River Valley.

West is survived by his wife and three children. West’s sister, Kristine Willis, said her brother was a 1992 graduate of Gaylor High School in Michigan.

Clements graduated from Huntington North High School in 2002 and enlisted in the Army last year for financial reasons.

“The service did a lot for him, probably taught him to appreciate things a little more,” said his grandmother, Betty Beady. She last spoke to her grandson Saturday.

Family and friends described him as an easy going, reserved and thoughtful person who valued family.

Elsewhere, members of First Baptist Church in the South Dakota town of White are remembering Goetz, a former pastor who was killed in Afghanistan this week while serving as an Army chaplain.

Goetz served the South Dakota church from November 2000 to December 2003. Vonnie Lucas, a member who sometimes baby-sat for Goetz and his wife, says news of his death is devastating.

She says Goetz, 43, had "a heart for people."

Fort Carson, an Army post outside Colorado Springs, has suffered heavy losses in Afghanistan.

Eight Fort Carson soldiers were killed in an attack on a remote outpost in northeastern part of the country in October 2009.

As of late Tuesday, the U.S. death toll for Afghanistan in August stood at 56 — three-quarters of them in the second half of the month as the Taliban fought back against U.S. pressure in southern and eastern strongholds. American losses accounted for more than 70 percent of the 76 fatalities suffered by the entire NATO-led force.

Until the late month spike, it appeared that the death toll for August would be well below the back-to-back monthly records of 60 in June and 66 in July.