Pentagon identifies soldiers killed in Afghanistan

BY CAROLINE LINTON
UPDATED ON: MARCH 24, 2019 / 7:25 PM / CBS NEWS

The two soldiers killed in Afghanistan earlier this week were identified Saturday by the Defense Department as Spc. Joseph P. Collette, 29, of Lancaster, Ohio, and Sgt. 1st Class Will D. Lindsay, of Cortez, Colorado. The Pentagon said Saturday they died of wounds sustained while engaged in combat operations in Kunduz Province, Afghanistan.

The soldiers were both based out of Fort Carson, Colorado.

Collette served as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal in the 71st Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group, 242nd Ordnance Battalion, where he was attached to a Special Forces Unit in Afghanistan, CBS Columbus, Ohio, affiliate WBNS-TV reports. He was a 2007 graduate of Lancaster High School. According to the Pentagon, he joined the Army in 2010 and arrived at Fort Carson in 2012.

Lindsay enlisted in 2004, the Pentagon said. His deployments include five tours to Iraq supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn; to Tajikistan in 2016 supporting the Counter-Narcotics Terrorism mission; and Afghanistan supporting Operation Freedom's Sentinel.

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