Alamo servicemen killed in Afghanistan
ALAMO – The Rio Grande Valley has lost another military service member in Afghanistan.
Fernando de la Rosa, of Alamo, died Tuesday in one of that war's deadliest days.
Alamo Mayor Rudy Villarreal said the city's Police Department was asked to help locate the family to deliver the news.
Villarreal also asked that all of Alamo's flags be placed at half staff in de la Rosa's honor.
De la Rosa, 24, is the third Valley serviceman to be killed in Afghanistan and the 29th to be killed in the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He is also the second Valley serviceman to be killed in as many weeks. U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Bradley Espinoza was killed Oct. 19 by an improvised bomb in Iraq.
According to his Myspace.com profile, De la Rosa joined the U.S. Army in 2003 after high school. He had been stationed in Italy, Austria and Germany. He wrote that he had also served two tours of duty in Iraq.
De la Rosa was a 2003 graduate of PSJA Memorial High School. His Myspace profile states he was in the 1st Infantry Division, 17th Batallion, based at Ft. Lewis in Tacoma, Wash.
On his Facebook page this month, De la Rosa described his latest tour as a "crazy couple of months" and that access to Internet and phones were limited.
"Some bad things but we're all helping each other through them," De la Rosa wrote in a post on Oct. 4. "Thanks for all the prayers. We all love you and hope to see you soon. Internet and phones isn't easy to come by but we'll try to keep in touch as much as we can."
An official at Ft. Lewis said he had not received information about De la Rosa's death, but added that it is the Defense department's policy to not release any casualty information until 24 hours after the victim's family has been notifieed.
It had been more than a year since the Valley lost a serviceman to the wars.
A total of 815 U.S. military personnel have died in and around Afghanistan – including in Pakistan and Uzbekistan – since Operation Enduring Freedom began eight years ago this month, according to the latest casualty report from the Pentagon, updated at 9 a.m. Wednesday. Of those, 632 were killed in action.
Eight U.S. service members and an Afghan civilian working with NATO’s International Security Assistance Force were killed Tuesday in multiple complex improvised bomb attacks in southern Afghanistan, ISAF announced in a news release Tuesday.
"A loss like this is extremely difficult for the families as well as for those who served alongside these brave service members," said Navy Capt. Jane Campbell, an ISAF Joint Command spokeswoman. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends who mourn their loss."
