U.S. soldiers keep a minute of silence for a U.S. soldier who was killed on Dec. 20th in Afghanistan Saturday Dec. 21, 2002 at the U.S. base in Kandahar. One U.S. soldier was killed in a firefight Saturday while another was injured by rocket fire in a separate incident. The slain soldier was shot while on a nighttime operation in the eastern province of Paktika, near the border of Pakistan. An army statement from Fort Bragg, N.C. identified him as an 82nd Airborne Division paratrooper Sgt. Steven Checo, 22.. He was the first U.S. soldier killed in combat in Afghanistan since August.
Sgt. Steven Checo, 22
Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment.