Roberts, Dion Rashun

Petty Officer Second Class Dion Rashun Roberts was a member of the U.S. Navy's most elite special operations unit, Naval Special Warfare Development Group, commonly known as SEAL Team Six. He was deployed to Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, the U.S.-led military campaign that began in October 2001 following the September 11 attacks.

On September 22, 2012, Roberts died in Jalalabad, the capital of Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province. The Department of Defense announced his death the following day, stating he was killed during an engagement with enemy forces. No further operational details of the incident were released publicly.

Roberts was 25 years old and from North Chicago, Illinois. His death occurred during the later years of Operation Enduring Freedom, a period marked by a sustained tempo of special operations missions against insurgent networks. The conflict in Afghanistan would continue under this name for another two years.

His service was with a unit that bore a disproportionate share of the war's most hazardous assignments. The loss of a service member from this community represented a significant operational impact. Roberts's death was one of 310 U.S. service members killed in Afghanistan in 2012, according to Defense Department casualty data.

He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star with Valor and the Purple Heart. Roberts is memorialized on the Navy SEAL Memorial at the Museum of The SEALs in Fort Pierce, Florida, and his name is inscribed on the Afghanistan War Memorial at the National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum.

Operation Enduring Freedom, the U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan, concluded in December 2014. See the full roster of those killed in this conflict.

Among those documented in the same conflict: Andrews, Evander Earl, Edmunds, Jonn Joseph, Stonesifer, Kristofor Tif, Davis, Bryant Leroy.

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