Two Illinois National Guard soldiers were killed in Afghanistan Tuesday, continuing a wrenching deployment for the 2,700-strong Illinois force in the troubled country, and maintaining a bloody trend as violence in Afghanistan worsens.
Thirty-nine-year-old Sgt. Scott Stream of Mattoon and 25-year-old Specialist Schuyler Patch of Galva were killed along with two other soldiers in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday.
They were on joint patrol with Afghan National Security Forces when the vehicle they were riding in struck a roadside bomb.
The two soldiers belonged to the guard's 33rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team and were among more than 2,900 guardsmen from the brigade deployed in Afghanistan.
An investigation is under way. Stream and Patch were the Illinois National Guard's 22nd and 23rd casualties in Iraq and fghanistan.
The Chicago Tribune reported that the two deaths on Tuesday mean that the Illinois Guard has now lost six soldiers from the 33rd IBCT in its current deployment to Afghanistan.
