Santos-silva, Carlos Marcelino
Male
Verified U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Carlos Marcelino Santos-Silva, 32, of Clarksville, Tennessee, was killed in action on March 22, 2010, at Combat Outpost Nolen, Afghanistan. He was assigned to Company C, 2nd Battalion, 508th Infantry Regiment,
Their Story
Sergeant First Class Carlos Marcelino Santos-Silva died on March 22, 2010, while serving with the U.S. Army in Zabul province, southern Afghanistan. According to military reports, he was killed by enemy small arms fire during a dismounted patrol near Combat Outpost Nolen. The outpost was part of a network of forward positions in a region where insurgent activity was prevalent.
Santos-Silva, a 32-year-old native of Clarksville, Tennessee, was a senior non-commissioned officer in Company C, 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment. His unit, part of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, deployed from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. The mission in Zabul province involved counterinsurgency operations and training Afghan security forces.
The battalion had been in Afghanistan for approximately five months at the time of his death. Military statements from the period noted that the area around COP Nolen saw frequent engagements. The patrol on March 22 was one of many daily operations conducted by U.S. and Afghan forces to maintain security in the province.
His death was recorded by the Department of Defense and reported by several news outlets. He was one of more than 1,000 U.S. service members killed in Afghanistan in 2010, a year that saw a significant increase in coalition casualties. Operation Enduring Freedom, the U.S.-led military campaign in Afghanistan, began in October 2001.
Santos-Silva's service is documented in the Pentagon's casualty releases and in local news reports from his hometown. He is memorialized on casualty lists from the conflict and by veterans' organizations. The war in Afghanistan continued for years after his death, with the U.S. formally concluding its combat mission in 2014.
Explore Further
Operation Enduring Freedom, the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, began in 2001 and concluded with the end of combat operations 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.
