U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Pablo A. Ruiz died in Afghanistan on May 24, 2015, representing the second service member to die in Afghanistan since the combat mission there officially ended, according to the Department of Defense (DOD).
Ruiz, a 37-year-old from Melbourne, Fla., was supporting Operation Freedom’s Sentinel when he died in Bagram, Afghanistan, from a non-combat-related incident.
U.S. Army Specialist John M. Dawson was the first to die in Afghanistan since the beginning of the year. Dawson was supporting Operation Freedom’s Sentinel when he died on April 8, 2015 in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered from small arms fire while he was on an escort mission.
President Barack Obama announced the end of the combat mission in Afghanistan, known as Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), on Dec. 28, 2014. Operation Freedom’s Sentinel is the follow-on mission that continued in 2015.
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