Pentagon Releases Names of US Soldiers Killed in Pakistan

By Jeremy Scahill

The Department of Defense has confirmed what we reported Thursday in The Nation: the US soldiers killed Wednesday in northwest Pakistan were “white” Special Operations Forces (see here for an explanation). I spoke to a knowledgeable US military source today who told me that it is likely that the men were doing precisely what the DoD says they were: training Pakistani security forces from the Frontier Corps for offensive operations in a very dangerous area of the country. All of the men were based out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina and one of them was with the 4th Psychological Operations Group.

Here is the statement released by the DoD:

The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of three soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. They died Feb. 3 in Timagara, Pakistan, from wounds suffered when insurgents attacked their unit with an improvised explosive device.

Killed were:

Sgt. 1st Class David J. Hartman, 27, of Okinawa, Japan.

He was assigned to the 96th Civil Affairs Battalion (Airborne), 95th
Civil Affairs Brigade (Airborne), Fort Bragg, N.C.

Sgt. 1st Class Matthew S. Sluss-Tiller, 35, of Callettsburg, Ky.

He was assigned to the 96th Civil Affairs Battalion (Airborne), 95th
Civil Affairs Brigade (Airborne), Fort Bragg, N.C.

Staff Sgt. Mark A. Stets, 39, of El Cajon, Calif.

He was assigned to the 8th Psychological Operations Battalion
(Airborne), 4th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne), Fort Bragg,
N.C.