One of the six people killed in Monday’s suicide bombing in Afghanistan was an airman who reportedly told his family he had deployed to Saudi Arabia. Apparently he didn’t want them to worry about his safety.
Another fought for gay rights in the military and a third was a detective in the New York Police Department.
In all, six Air Force members died when a bomber on a motorcycle attacked a coalition patrol Monday. Two other U.S. service members and an American contractor were also wounded, officials said.
Here are the U.S. servicemembers killed and what we know about them.
Maj. Adrianna M. Vorderbruggen
Adrianna Vorderbruggen was the first openly gay female active duty service member in the U.S. military and the first openly gay Air Force officer to die in combat.
She fought for years to get the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy repealed and later married her partner Heather Lamb, an Air Force veteran. They have a son.
“Heather and Adrianna worked toward the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t tell,’ not just for their family, but for all military families,” friend Tracey Hepner, who is married to the first openly gay female general, told The Washington Post.
From Plymouth, Minnesota, she was assigned to the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, 9th Field Investigations Squadron, at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.
She attended the U.S. Air Force Academy and graduated from George Washington University in 2010.
Vorderbruggen was 36.
Staff Sgt. Michael A. Cinco
Michael Cinco was a resident of Mercedes, Texas.
He was assigned to the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, 11th Field Investigations Squadron, Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas.
Mercedes is a town of about 16,000 people in southeast Texas, near the border with Mexico.
Cinco was 28.
Staff Sgt. Peter W. Taub
Peter Taub’s family wasn’t aware he was in Afghanistan when they got word he had died there, CNN affiliate WPVI of Philadelphia reported. He told his father two and a half months ago he had deployed to Saudi Arabia.
Perhaps he didn’t want to worry his father or his wife, who is pregnant.
His father told WPVI that his 30-year-old son had joined the Air Force eight years ago and recently re-enlisted. Joel Taub said the military gave his son direction and discipline.
“He was a really good family man, loved his wife, loved his (3-year-old) daughter,” Taub said.
Arlene Wagner, Taub’s mother, said her thoughts are particularly with her son’s pregnant wife.
“He will have a child that he will never see now,” Wagner told the Washington Post. “It’s just really, really hard because I expected him to come home.”
He was assigned to the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Detachment 816, Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota.
Taub was 30.
Staff Sgt. Chester J. McBride
Chester McBride was a former football hero in a Georgia town known for championship football teams. He was a starting cornerback as a sophomore on the Statesboro High School team that won the the title in 2001.
“He was a very quiet young man who was a class act with tremendous character,” former coach Buzz Busby told the Statesboro Herald. “His parents did a wonderful job of raising that young man and he will be greatly missed.”
Statesboro principal Ken LeCain concurred, calling McBride a “young man of high character with a great smile,” according to CNN affiliate WSAV.
While on leave in October, McBride stopped by the school and spoke to some of the football players about life, the Herald reported.
He was assigned to the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Detachment 405, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama.
McBride was 30.
Technical Sgt. Joseph G. Lemm
Joseph Lemm was a 15-year New York Police Department veteran who was promoted to detective in January 2014, serving in the Bronx warrant squad, according to a statement from Police Commissioner Bill Bratton.
While a member of the NYPD, Lemm was deployed three times, twice to Afghanistan and once to Iraq.
“Staff Sgt. Joe Lemm served this nation with the selflessness and bravery that embodies the U.S. Armed forces and the NYPD,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement. “On behalf of all New Yorkers, I extend my deepest condolences to his family, friends, fellow officers and service members.”
Lemm leaves behind his wife and two children.
He was assigned to the 105th Security Forces Squadron at Stewart Air National Guard Base, New York.
Lemm was 45.
Staff Sgt. Louis M. Bonacasa
Louis Bonacasa of Manorville, New York, was on his fourth tour of duty, his mother told CNN. He had previously served in Iraq and Afghanistan, Diana Bonacasa said.
“My son was a man of integrity. He was a proud soldier of the United States,” she said. “He was 17 years old when he graduated high school and he said … ‘mom, I want to be a soldier.'”
She said she wants her son remembered as a hero.
“He was doing something that he loved to do and that’s how he died, serving his country.”
Bonacasa leaves behind a wife and five-year-old child, his mother said. “He loved his family. I’ve never seen a man love a family the way he loved his.”
He was assigned to the 105th Security Forces Squadron at Stewart Air National Guard Base, New York.
Bonacasa was 31.