JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. (AP) -- The Yakima soldier killed Monday by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan was the 35th member of the 5th Stryker brigade to die there since it deployed in July.
The News Tribune of Tacoma reports all but three have been killed in bombings.
The Defense Department says 21-year-old Pfc. James L. Miller was on his first deployment. He had enlisted in 2008 in Spokane.
Miller leaves his wife, Katie, and their 18-month-old daughter.
Miller's mother, Kim Miller, told the Yakima Herald-Republic she talked to him last week and he was looking forward to returning home in three months. She said he was considering re-enlisting and wanted to be stationed in Alaska. He graduated from Chugiak High School in 2007.
