Sgt. 1st Class Johnathan B. McCain
Spc. Calvin M. Pereda
Spc. Calvin M. Pereda, 21, of Fayeteville, N.C., was killed Saturday while on foot patrol. Sgt. 1st Class Johnathan B. McCain, 38, of Apache Junction, Ariz. was killed Sunday while on patrol in a vehicle.
Their next of kin have been notified. Eight other soldiers were wounded in the incidents.
McCain joined the army in 1992 and had served two combat tours in Iraq before this deployment. He had been stationed at Fort Wainwright since 2000.
Both men were in the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, part of the 4,000-member 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, which left Alaska for a one-year deployment to Afghanistan in April.
The brigade is serving in the southern provinces of Kandahar, Uruzgan and Zabul. It is training Afghan soldiers and police and supports the Afghan government.
Seventeen soldiers from the Stryker Brigade have died in combat this deployment. Most have been killed by homemade bombs while on foot or in vehicles.
Contact staff writer Sam Friedman at 459-7545.