Six Green Berets lost their lives last week, marking an especially deadly week for some of the Army's most elite forces.
The soldiers died in three separate incidents between Wednesday and Friday of last week, hitting hard the tightly-knit Special Forces community.
Two were killed in an Afghanistan firefight, three while entering a Jordanian military base and another off the Florida coast in a dive training accident, according to Defense Department releases.
"It's very dark for the community," said Jen Paquette, executive director of the Green Beret Foundation, which provides support to families of fallen operators.
It was one of the deadliest weeks she's seen in her career, Paquette said.
"There was a time in 3rd Group when we lost four on Memorial Day, and that was Afghanistan, but it was the same incident," she said.
Last week's incidents bring the total deaths to eight in just over a month, underscoring how many of these special operations troops remain in harm's way as the military continues to rely heavily on its special operators for missions all around the world.
Staff Sgt. David Whitcher, 30, of 1st Special Warfare Training Group died Wednesday during a dive training exercise. Whitcher was in the Combat Diver Qualification Course and assigned to C Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Special Warfare Training Group.
He was previously assigned to 2nd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group as a Special Forces engineer sergeant.
Capt. Andrew Byers, 30, and Sgt. 1st Class Ryan Gloyer, 34, were killed Thursday in Kunduz, Afghanistan, along with 26 civilians and three Afghan soldiers. Four other American troops were wounded.
The men, who were assigned to 2nd Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group, came under fire during a training and advisory mission with Afghan troops. The soldiers were working to clear a Taliban position and disrupt the group's operations in Kunduz district.
On Sunday, the Defense Department announced that Staff Sgts. Matthew Lewellen, 27, Kevin McEnroe,30, and James Moriarty, 30, lost their lives after being fired on in Jordan, where the U.S. keeps about 2,000 troops on the ground to support local military training. The incident happened on Friday.
Their remains were scheduled to arrive at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, on Monday night, according to an Air Force Mortuary Affairs release.
"At this time, our thoughts and prayers are with the loved ones of these service members who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their nation," Lt. Col. Robert Bockholt, spokesman for U.S. Army Special Operations Command, told Army Times.
Two more Green Berets died during deployments in October: Staff Sgt. Adam Thomas, 31, with 10th Special Forces Group in Nangarhar, Afghanistan, and
, 33, who was found dead of non-combat injuries in Kenya.
Meghann Myers is the Pentagon bureau chief at Military Times. She covers operations, policy, personnel, leadership and other issues affecting service members.
