Army Ranger Killed in Action

SOURCE:
RELEASE NUMBER: 091003-01
DATE POSTED: OCTOBER 3, 2009
PRESS RELEASE: Army Ranger killed in action

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (USASOC News Service, Oct. 3, 2009) — An Army Ranger died Oct.1 from wounds received during combat operations in Afghanistan while serving with Company B, 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment based at Hunter Army Airfield, Ga.

Sgt. Roberto Daniel Sanchez, 24, was killed in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan during a combat operation involving multiple enemy contacts that killed nine enemy combatants and destroyed a large weapons cache. During the operation Sanchez was mortally wounded by an enemy improvised explosive device.

“Sgt. Sanchez epitomized the spirit and ethos of the Ranger Regiment,” said Col. Michael E. Kurilla, commander of the 75th Ranger Regiment. “He is a hero to our Nation, our Army and his family.”

“Sgt. Sanchez was the quintessential Ranger, enthusiastic, smart, loyal to his mission, his country and his friends,” said Col. Brian Mennes, 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment Battalion commander. “He led with distinction and would want us to continue supporting the efforts for which he so humbly and selfishly dedicated his life.”

After graduating from Satellite Senior High School, Satellite Beach, Fla., Sanchez enlisted in the U.S. Army from his hometown of Patrick Air Force Base, Fla., July 2004. He began his Army Ranger career when he was assigned to Company B, 1st Bn., where he served as an automatic rifleman and team leader.

Sanchez was on his fifth deployment in support of the War on Terror with three previous deployments to Iraq and one to Afghanistan.

He is survived by his parents 1st Sgt. Will and Wendy Holland and brothers Jacob Goldberg and Logan Holland of Hendersonville, Tenn., and maternal grandparents James and Mary Wilson of Ocala, Fla.