Sanchez, Roberto Daniel
Male
Verified Sgt. Roberto Daniel Sanchez, 24, of Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, was a U.S. Army Ranger assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment. He was killed in action in the Zharay District of Afghanistan on October 1, 2009.
Their Story
Roberto Daniel Sanchez was a sergeant in the U.S. Army's elite 75th Ranger Regiment, a unit frequently deployed to the most intense combat zones of the Afghanistan war. He was assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, based out of Hunter Army Airfield in Georgia. The regiment's operations in 2009 were heavily concentrated in southern Afghanistan's Kandahar province, a Taliban stronghold.
In late September 2009, U.S. and Afghan forces launched a major offensive named Operation Dragon Strike in Kandahar. The operation aimed to clear insurgent forces from districts surrounding the provincial capital, including the strategically important Zharay District. The area was a known hub for Taliban command and control and bomb-making networks.
On October 1, 2009, Sanchez was participating in these clearing operations in Zharay District. According to U.S. military reports, his unit came under hostile fire during the mission. Sanchez was killed in the engagement. He was 24 years old.
His death was part of a particularly violent period in the war. October 2009 became the deadliest month for U.S. forces in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion, with 59 American service members killed. The intense fighting in Kandahar was a prelude to the larger troop surge announced by President Barack Obama later that year.
Sanchez was posthumously promoted to the rank of sergeant. He was one of at least 13 members of the 75th Ranger Regiment killed in Afghanistan in 2009. The regiment continued sustained operations in the country for several more years.
Operation Enduring Freedom, the U.S.-led combat mission in Afghanistan, formally concluded in December 2014. The conflict, which began in October 2001, resulted in the deaths of over 2,400 American service members.
Explore Further
Operation Enduring Freedom, the U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan, concluded in December 2014 after over 13 years of conflict. 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.
