Las Vegas soldier killed in roadside bombing

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A 22-year-old soldier from Las Vegas who attended Silverado High School is among at least 14 U.S. military troops who have been killed in combat operations in Iraq since Tuesday, Army officials said.

Pfc. Joshua S. Modgling of Las Vegas was killed along with Sgt. 1st Class William A. Zapfe, 35, of Muldraugh, Ky., when a roadside bomb exploded Tuesday near their vehicle in Muhammad al Ali, Iraq, according to a Department of Defense statement.

Both soldiers were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division in Fort Stewart, Ga.

A spokesman at Fort Stewart said Thursday that Modgling was a combat engineer who had been in Iraq since May. He joined the Army in December 2005 and reported to Fort Stewart for duty in April 2006.

A Nevada National Guard spokeswoman said Modgling had lived in Las Vegas since he was 8 years old.

She said his father lives in Henderson and his mother is a resident of Mira Loma, Calif.

Clark County School District records show Modgling attended Silverado High School from September 2001 until March 2003, when he withdrew from the school as a sophomore to attend an out-of-state school.

The records show he had attended Manch Elementary School and Bridger, White, Robison and Brinley middle schools.

Modgling is the 53rd U.S. military member with ties to Nevada to have died overseas in the nation’s wars since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

He is at least the second former Silverado High School student to die in the wars on terrorism.

Army Spc. Anthony S. Cometa, a 2002 graduate of Silverado High, died June 16, 2005, after the Humvee he was in rolled over in southern Iraq.

A public affairs official at Camp Victory, Iraq, was checking late Thursday to see if Modgling and Zapfe were the two Task Force Marne soldiers killed Tuesday when improvised explosive devices exploded near their vehicle southwest of Baghdad. Four other Task Force Marne soldiers were wounded in that attack.

Modgling’s unit, the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, has been participating this month in a major offensive operation dubbed Marne Torch out of Forward Operating Base Kalsu.

The team’s mission is to prevent terrorists from entering southern Baghdad, according to a Multi-National Corps statement that quotes the team’s deputy commanding officer, Col. James Adams.

"Our soldiers are well trained, and I am extremely proud of the work they have accomplished over the past several weeks in preparation for this operation," Adams said.

Marne Torch is named after the World War II British-American invasion of French North Africa in 1942 in which soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division fought to secure beaches.