Jonathan P Brostrom
Profile
Age: 24
From: Hawaii
Assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 503d Infantry Regiment (Airborne), 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, Vicenza, Italy
Incident: Army 1st Lt. Jonathan P. Brostrom died of wounds sustained when his outpost was attacked by small-arms fire and rocket propelled grenades from enemy forces in Wanat, Afghanistan, on July 13. Also killed were Sgt. Israel Garcia, Cpl. Jonathan R. Ayers, Cpl. Jason M. Bogar, Cpl. Jason D. Hovater, Cpl. Matthew B. Phillips, Cpl. Pruitt A. Rainey, Cpl. Gunnar W. Zwilling and Pfc. Sergio S. Abad.
Died: July 13, 2008
Soldier from Hawaii killed in Afghanistan
The Associated Press
HONOLULU — The Pentagon said Wednesday a soldier from Aiea was killed in Afghanistan along with eight other Americans when their outpost was attacked by small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades.
Army 1st Lt. Jonathan P. Brostrom, 24, was among those attacked Sunday in the town of Wanat. It was the deadliest incident for U.S. forces in three years.
Brostrom was a 2002 graduate of Damien Memorial School. He received a four-year ROTC scholarship at the University of Hawaii, graduating in 2006.
Brostrom’s father, David Brostrom, a retired Army colonel, praised his son and fellow soldiers for the work they are doing in Afghanistan but said they are not getting the resources they need.
“My son is very well trained. His leadership at the brigade and below were probably the best you’ll ever find, the best in the world,” David Brostrom told The Honolulu Advertiser. “(But) they were put in a situation where they were under-resourced.”
He said the U.S. has put Afghanistan on hold while it fights the war in Iraq. He said the enemy has been slowly gaining a foothold.
“It took something like this, nine soldiers killed, to be a wake-up call. I just hope my son’s death drives some policy to do what we need to do right in Afghanistan in order to protect our soldiers,” Brostrom said.
The nine soldiers belonged to the Army’s 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne), 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, Vicenza, Italy.
Their newly built outpost in Wanat was attacked before dawn Sunday by small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades.
Moving in darkness before dawn Sunday, about 200 fighters surrounded the newly built base in a remote area near the Pakistan border without being spotted by the troops inside.
A NATO official said they used houses, shops and a mosque for cover during the hours-long battle before American soldiers managed to drive out the attackers and call in air support from attack helicopters. The official said dozens were killed and about 40 were wounded.
The provincial police chief said people in the adjacent village aided the assault. He said about 20 local families left their homes in anticipation of the raid, while other tribesmen stayed behind to help the insurgents during the fight.
It was the deadliest incident for U.S. forces since June 2005, when 16 American soldiers were killed as a rocket-propelled grenade shot down their helicopter.
Violence has been increasing in Afghanistan, and many people are questioning whether the Taliban-led insurgency is gaining, not losing, momentum seven years after the hard-line Islamic regime was ousted by a U.S.-led invasion.