The Department of Defense has identified the U.S. Army Special Forces soldier who died on Saturday in Afghanistan.
Sgt. 1st Class Stephen Cribben, 33, of Simi Valley, California, died Nov. 4 in Logar Province, Afghanistan as a result of wounds sustained while engaged in combat operations.
Sgt. 1st Class Stephen B. Cribben (Twitter)
He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group, in Fort Carson, Colorado, and he was supporting Operation Freedom’s Sentinel.
The incident is being investigated, the Defense Department said.
Last month, another Special Operations soldier was killed in Logar Province.
Chief Warrant Officer Jacob Sims, 36, of Juneau, Alaska, died Oct. 27 in Logar Province, Afghanistan, as a result of wounds sustained when he was involved in a helicopter crash.
He was assigned to 4th Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.
Stars and Stripes reported that Cribben had almost 15 years of military experience.
Stars and Stripes reported:
A native of Rawlins, Wyo., Cribben joined the Army on Nov. 20, 2002, and trained to become a military police officer at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., according to an Army Special Operations Command release.
He served in Asia, Europe and the United States, and deployed three times with the Fort Campbell, Kentucky-based 716th Military Police Battalion — to Egypt for the biannual Bright Star exercise in 2005, to Afghanistan in 2006 and to Iraq in 2007.
Cribben graduated from the Special Forces qualification course in 2014 and was assigned to 10th Special Forces Group at Fort Carson.
He was a future plans noncommissioned officer with Special Operations Command Forward-North and West Africa, then served as a senior communications sergeant for Special Forces Operational Detachment-Alpha. He deployed to Afghanistan with 10th Group in September.
His decorations include the Bronze Star Medal and three Army Commendation Medals. He also earned the Combat Action Badge, Special Forces Tab, Parachutist Badge, Air Assault Badge and Path Finder Badge.
