Oregon Army National Guard Soldier Killed By IED In Afghanistan

According to the DOD, as of September 23, 2008, there have been 601 total Enduring Freedom US Casualties*.

Captain Bruno Giancarlo de Solenni Photo: Oregon National Guard

(SALEM, Ore.) - The Department of Defense has announced the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

32-year old Captain Bruno Giancarlo de Solenni, of the Oregon Army National Guard died of wounds sustained when an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) detonated near his vehicle near Kandahar, Afghanistan on September 20th.

Two Afghan interpreters were also killed and two other soldiers were wounded in the explosion.

Capt. de Solenni was assigned to the Joint Forces Headquarters, Element Training Team, Oregon Army National Guard. Capt. de Solenni and the Counter Narcotics Infantry Kandak Embedded Training Team were enroute from a Forward Operating Base to the Kandahar Air Field when an IED detonated destroying their vehicle.

Capt. de Solenni enlisted into the Oregon Army National Guard in 1996. A few years later he enrolled in Southern Oregon University in Ashland and joined the Guard Officer Leadership Development program. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant on May 2nd, 2001 with B Company, 1st Battalion, 186th Infantry.

Later that year his battalion received an alert order for mobilization to Sinai, Egypt as part of the Multi-National Force and Observers mission. Eight months after his return Capt. de Solenni volunteered to go to Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom II.

In November 2007, de Solenni was reassigned to Joint Force Headquarters and mobilized with the Embedded Training Team to Afghanistan.

The Team was scheduled to complete their mission in December and return home. At the time of his death he had been in Afghanistan for seven months.

His previous assignment within the Oregon Army Guard were at HHC (-) 1st Battalion, 186th Infantry in Ashland and Company D 1st Battalion, 186th Infantry in Grants Pass.

As a citizen soldier, de Solenni was a fisherman and a logger. His is survived by his mother and father of Crescent City, Calif.

*OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM total includes casualties that occurred in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan; also Guantanamo Bay (Cuba), Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Philippines, Seychelles, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Yemen.

Source: Oregon National Guard