3 Germany-based Soldiers killed in Afghanistan

3 Germany-based servicemembers killed in bombing

By Seth Robson, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Wednesday, January 14, 2009

GRAFENWÖHR, Germany — Three members of the 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment — including the unit’s senior officer in Afghanistan — have been identified as the U.S. troops killed when a roadside bomb struck their Humvee in Zabul province late last week.

The Department of Defense on Tuesday announced the names of the three men who died Jan. 9 in the blast near Jaldak, a small town near the provincial capital, Qalat.

The men are: Maj. Brian M. Mescall, 33, of Hopkinton, Mass.; Spc. Joseph M. Hernandez, 24, of Hammond, Ind.; and Spc. Jason R. Parsons, 24, of Lenoir, N.C.
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Mescall had been the 1-4 chief of staff in Zabul since June, said Fisher, who was the unit’s previous chief of staff in Afghanistan.

Mescall was also deputy commander of a Romanian-led battalion task force that included 1-4’s Team Cherokee, made up of three platoons fighting out of isolated outposts in the mountainous southern Afghan province.

The fatal attack came as the 1-4 soldiers were doing reconnaissance on a potential new patrol base to be staffed by Romanian and Afghan forces, Fisher said.
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A memorial for the three fallen 1-4 soldiers will be held Jan. 23 at 3 p.m. in the Hohenfels Community Activity Center.

The Team Cherokee Commander, CPT Terry Howell, recently returned to Afghanistan after recovering from gunshot wounds sustained in August.