Pfc. Gil I. Morales Del Valle, from Jacksonville, was killed Wednesday," 3 August 2011 in Wardack Province Afghanistan

[JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A local soldier was killed this week in Afghanistan.

The Army said 21-year-old Pfc. Gil I. Morales Del Valle, from Jacksonville, was killed Wednesday in Wardack province, near the capital city of Kabul.

Morales Del Valle was in a vehicle that was attacked by an improvised explosive device.

He and a 19-year-old soldier from Kansas were killed.

The soldiers were part of the 2nd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, based in Louisiana.

Morales Del Valle joined the Army in 2010 and had been deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom since October.

During his time in the Army, he was awarded a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart, the NATO Medal, the Army Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, the Overseas Service Ribbon and the Combat Infantryman Badge.]
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/article/213837/3/Gil-I-Morales-Del-Valle-Was-Killed-in-Afghanistan (emphasis added)

Yes, the dead of Seal Team 6 remain American heroes as do the US Army chopper pilots, one of whom left a son who pled with US media to remember his Dad also.

Americans, a dead hero lies in the grave as any other who has left this mortal coil.  To lionize the Seal Team 6 casualties and forget Del Valle obscures the true costs of war: bereaved family left behind.

Do you think families of Afghan dead treasure their heroes less?

To some in Afghanistan, the Taleban fighting to preserve their Islamic faith amount to equivalent of our American patriots at Concord and Lexington.

Meanwhile, a little piece of my heart dies with each American and Afghan civilian's death, blood spilled by the soul lacking President Cheney and his idiot stepson, Jr, with apologies to all honest idiots everywhere.

My dead tree edition of the Orlando Sentinel failed to identify , the dead kid from Kansas: Pfc. Cody G. Baker

[While the news of the Chinook helicopter downing in Wardak Province has dominated the airwaves, there have been other, unrelated troop losses in that same region.

Two soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom died Aug. 3, 2011, in Wardak Province, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered when enemy forces attacked their vehicle with an improvised explosive device.

Killed in the attack were Pfc. Cody G. Baker of Holton, Kansas, and Pfc. Gil I. Morales Del Valle of Jacksonville, Florida.]
http://www.examiner.com/military-community-in-national/two-10th-mountain-soldiers-ft-polk-killed-wardak-province#ixzz1UhOJPn7T