Yet again, a North Texas native has been killed while serving in Afghanistan. The Department of Defense announced today that 35-year-old Mesquite native Raymond Munden, who enlisted in the Army in August 1991, was killed on Monday in Paktika Province near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The DoD reports that Munden, a sergeant first class, died "of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using indirect fire." The rocket attack took place at Forward Operating Base Tillman, a dangerous, desolate base so named for the late Pat Tillman and situated but two kilometers from Pakistan. It's known as "The Last Outpost."
News of Munden's death comes just days after Cpl. Peter J. Courcy of Frisco was killed in Afghanistan; indeed, Courcy's body arrived at Addison Airport only yesterday, and he was buried today at the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery. Both soldiers served with the 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team based out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Munden, a Bronze Star Medal recipient and highly decorated soldier, leaves behind a wife, two daughters and two sons, all of whom live in New York. According to the Army, his mother, Billie Clark, still lives in Mesquite.