Michael T. Hiester
Profile
Age: 33
From: Bluffton, Ind.
Assigned to the 76th Infantry Brigade (Separate), Indiana Army National Guard, Indianapolis, Ind.
Incident: Army Master Sgt. Michael T. Hiester was killed March 26 when a mine detonated near his military vehicle in Kabul, Afghanistan. Also
Died: March 26, 2005
Friends remember soldier killed in Afghanistan
By Rick Callahan
Associated Press
A northeastern Indiana firefighter who was married with two young children was just weeks from ending a yearlong tour in Afghanistan when he and three other Indiana soldiers died in a land mine explosion near Kabul, friends said Sunday.
The Department of Defense was not expected to release the names of the four Indiana National Guard members killed Saturday when a land mine exploded under their military vehicle until late Sunday evening.
However, Bluffton Mayor Ted Ellis released a statement Sunday afternoon identifying the four men. The statement said the deceased were Master Sgt. Michael T. Hiester, 33, of Bluffton Capt. Michael T. Fiscus, 37, of Warsaw in northern Indiana Spc. Brett Hershey, 23, of Indianapolis and Spc. Norman Snyder, 19, of Carlisle in southwestern Indiana near the Illinois border.
A total of 43 U.S....