Army Sgt. Jan M. Argonish, 26, of Peckville, Pa.; assigned to the 55th Brigade, Pennsylvania Army National Guard, Scranton, Pa.; died Aug. 27 at Forward Operating Base Naray, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit during combat operations in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Also killed were Maj. Henry S. Ofeciar and Master Sgt. Scott R. Ball.
“PA National Guard Soldier Dies In Combat In Afghanistan”
A Pennsylvania National Guard soldier embedded with the Afghan military was among five people killed in an ambush by suspected Taliban militants Aug. 27.
The ambush in Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan killed Sgt. Jan M. Argonish, 26, of Scranton, along with Master Sgt. Scott R. Ball, 38, of Carlisle, PA, an active-duty Army officer whose name has not been released, and two Afghan soldiers, the Guard said Aug. 28.
Argonish was a corrections officer at the federal prison in Waymart, Wayne County, who saw combat in Iraq and volunteered to go to Afghanistan. He is survived by his son, his parents and two sisters.
He died trying to protect his comrades, said National Guard Lt. Col. Chris Cleaver.
“He was in one of the rear vehicles and where he was found, he was trying to protect his other soldiers in that convoy,” Cleaver told a news conference in Scranton. “If you can imagine, with that number of casualties and fatalities, you are looking at overwhelming opposition fire at your location.”
Violence in Afghanistan is running at its highest level since the U.S. invasion nearly six years ago. Clashes in southern and eastern Afghanistan this week have killed more than 100 militants and more than 10 NATO troops, including Ball and Argonish.
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