Gay Hero who Came Out before end of DADT killed in Afghanistan

                                                                           

 Here is our hero Adrianna with her partner celebrating end of DADT

 

 

Adrianna Vorderbruggen, a major in the Air Force who is known as one of the first openly gay service members since "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was repealed in 2011, was killed in action along with six of her fellow service members in Afghanistan on Monday.

She was on a security patrol on foot near Bagram Air Base when an explosive-laden motorbike rammed into the patrol and detonated. Aside from the six who were killed, three U.S. service members were injured in the attack according to U.S. Army Brig. General William Shoffner, head of public affairs at NATO's Resolute Support Base in the Afghan capital of Kabul.

Shoffner said the attack, which was the largest attack on foreign forces in Afghanistan since August, happened around 1:30 p.m. local time.

Major Vorderbruggen had served as a special agent with the Office of Special Investigations at a number of duty stations including McCord's Air Force Base in Washington and Joint Base Andrews in Maryland before joining her unit at Eglin Air Force Base. From Eglin Air Force Base, she was deployed to Afghanistan.

After learning that Vorderbruggen had been killed while serving her country, Military Families and Partners released the following statement and photo on Facebook:

Our friend Air Force Major Adrianna Vorderbruggen was killed in Afghanistan yesterday. Military families understand that...

Posted by Military Partners and Families Coalition on Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Vorderbruggen and her civilian wife, Heather Lamb, were married in June of 2012, and were raising a son who is not yet five.

Hours after the suicide bombing, several rockets hit an area of Kabul housing foreign embassies and government buildings. No casualties were immediately reported but a State Department official told CBS News that U.S. Embassy staff was told to shelter in place.

The Taliban took responsibility for the attacks.

The U.S. now has about 9,800 troops in Afghanistan, some of which are involved in counterterrorism missions. With NATO contributions, there are about 13,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan.

CBS/AP

The victims included New York City Detective Joseph Lemm, a 15-year veteran of the NYPD who also volunteered in the U.S. Air National Guard and was on his third deployment to war zones.
"Detective Joseph Lemm epitomized the selflessness we can only strive for: putting his country and city first," New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said in a statement.
Local media in Statesboro, Georgia, identified a third victim as serviceman Chester McBride Jr., who was remembered by the principal of Statesboro High School as "a young man of high character with a great smile."
Serviceman Michael Anthony Cinco of Rio Grande Valley, Texas, was identified by local media as another victim.
Facebook postings identified others as Staff Sergeants Peter Taub, whose family lives in the Washington, D.C., area, and Louis Bonacasa from New York.
“My son, Chef Jon's brother, Staff Sargeant Peter Taub was one of six killed yesterday in Afghanistan,” wrote the owner of the Taub family sandwich shop in Washington. “The restaurant is closed for the rest of this week.”
Wrote Air Force member Jeffrey Behrman: “Joseph Lemm and Louis Bonacasa, I'm glad to have known you men, I'm glad I was able to buy you men a couple pints before you left for Afghanistan.”
The Taliban, which claimed responsibility for the strike, remains resilient 14 years after the start of U.S. military engagement in Afghanistan. It has ramped up its attacks this year, inflicting heavier casualties on Afghan security forces.
Just last week, the Pentagon warned of deteriorating security in Afghanistan and assessed the performance of Afghan security forces as "uneven and mixed."
More than 2,300 U.S. troops have died in the Afghan war since the 2001 invasion, but the pace of U.S. deaths has fallen off sharply since the end of formal U.S. combat and a drawdown of American forces.
Pentagon data showed there have been 10 so-called "hostile" deaths of U.S. service members in Afghanistan this year. There have been 10 non-hostile deaths, largely from aircraft crashes. (Reuters)