Font Resize
For the White Sands Missile Range website, click here.
LAS CRUCES - Army Spec. Nathan B. Carse, a soldier with the 2nd Engineer Battalion at White Sands Missile Range, has been killed in action in Afghanistan.
Carse, 32, died Tuesday of wounds sustained in Afghanistan's Kandahar province when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. Carse was a combat engineer with the battalion's 176th Engineer Brigade. He becomes the second WSMR soldier to die in Afghanistan in the past four months. Sgt. Brian J. Pedro, 27, was killed Oct. 2 in Pol-e-Khumrai, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked his unit with small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades.
"I'm trying hard to keep from crying," said Monte Marlin, WSMR spokeswoman. "As a mother, a circumstance like this is a mother's worst nightmare. It just breaks my heart because if you look at his age and what he's accomplished in his life, he was doing exactly what he wanted to be doing."
Carse joined the Army in February 2010, and his first active duty assignment was at WSMR after completing basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. He was deployed to Afghanistan in September.
From Harrod, Ohio, Carse earned a bachelor's degree in environmental sciences from Capital University, in Bexley,
"This hurts right at the heart of White Sands because he is one of our own," Marlin said. "Even if he wasn't already a part of our White Sands family, we wouldn't be any less proud of his service to our country than we are now."
His military awards and decorations include the Army Commendation Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon and the NATO Medal. He will be posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal, a Purple Heart, the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Good Conduct Medal and the Combat Action Badge.
A memorial ceremony in honor of Carse will be conducted at WSMR at a later date.
"What hurts, too, is that we were really close to bringing (the battalion) home," Marlin said. "Although there haven't been any specific dates announced yet, we're preparing to welcome the battalion's return sometime in the late March or April timeframe."
Steve Ramirez can be reached at (575) 541-5452.
Another casualty
•Spec. Nathan B. Carse, 32, was killed in action Tuesday in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
•Carse was serving with the 176th Engineer Brigade of the 2nd Engineer Battalion at White Sands Missile Range.
•Carse was killed when his unit was attacked with an improvised explosive device (IED).
•This was Carse's first active-duty Army assignment, after completing basic training in May at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.
•He becomes the second soldier with the battalion to be killed in action. Sgt. Brian J. Pedro, 27, was killed Oct. 2 in Pol-e-Khumri, Afghanistan.
