One Brick Short

Three American troops. including a woman from New Castle, Va., were killed in two days in two different countries in three separate incidents.

Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Ryan Kahler, 29, of Granite Falls, Minn., died Jan. 26 in Forward Operating Base Fenty, Afghanistan, from small arms fire in Waygul, Afghanistan. Officials are investigating the death as possible “friendly fire.” Afghan guards working with the Coalistion may have mistook him as an enemy combatant. The incident is under investigation. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne), 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, Vicenza, Italy.

Pfc. Duncan Charles Crookston, 19, of Denver, Colo., died Jan. 25 in Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during combat operations in Baghdad, Iraq. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.

Sgt. Tracy Renee Birkman, 41, of New Castle, Va., died Jan. 25 in Owesat, Iraq, from non-combat related injuries. She was assigned to the 626th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.