As Republicans gathered in Tampa on Aug. 27, a 25-year-old Army sergeant serving his third tour in Afghanistan, Christopher J. Birdwell of Windsor, Colorado, was killed in action.
"Everybody loved him," his brother, Dustin, 23, told the Fort Collins Coloradoan. "He was a really fun guy to be around."
On Aug. 28, as the convention began, the Army identified a soldier killed with Birdwell: Spec. Mabry J. Anders, 21, of Baker City, Oregon. Another coalition soldier, not yet identified, was killed in an insurgent attack in eastern Afghanistan the same day.