Pentagon IDs 3 Reserve Marines Killed in IED Attack in Afghanistan

The Defense Department has identified the three Marine reservists who were killed just north of Kabul in Afghanistan this week.

Staff Sgt. Christopher K.A. Slutman, 43, of Newark, Delaware; Sgt. Benjamin S. Hines, 31, of York, Pennsylvania; and Cpl. Robert A. Hendriks, 25, of Locust Valley, New York, died on Monday while conducting combat operations.

The three were assigned to 25th Marine Regiment, a Massachusetts-based Reserve unit.

Slutman, Hines and Hendriks died when their vehicle was hit with an improvised explosive device near Bagram Air Base in Parwan province. Three other U.S. troops were injured in the attack, along with an Afghan contractor.

Defense Department officials initially reported that the contractor had also been killed in the blast, but on Tuesday they announced that he had survived.

The Taliban has taken responsibility for the attack.

Officials did not immediately respond to questions about how many members of the 25th Marines are currently deployed to Afghanistan or what their main mission there is. These are the first combat casualties for the Marine Corps since 2016 when Staff Sgt. Louis Cardin was killed by Islamic State group terrorists in Iraq.

Slutman was a father of three and a firefighter who had received the Fire Chief Association Memorial Medal for saving a woman’s life in 2013, CBS News reported.

“He was good. He was always positive,” Slutman’s father, Fletcher Slutman, told the station. “He was always doing things for people, so you felt good if he were around.”

Hines completed recruit training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in South Carolina in 2007, the York Daily Record reported.

A tribute to posted on social media by someone who said Hines was his first squad leader said, “he always pushed me to become better in every way possible not only as a Marine, but as a person,” according to the paper.

To read the full article and get exclusive benefits, sign up today.

Gina Harkins previously covered the Marine Corps, Navy and Coast Guard for Military.com. She has covered troops and their families for nearly a decade, reporting from the U.S., Central and South America, and at sea. Before joining Military.com, Gina was a longtime reporter and managing editor for the independent Marine Corps Times. Her story on two recruits trapped at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in South Carolina was runner up for the 2013 Military Reporters and Editors award for domestic military coverage. She holds a master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and studied political science and international relations in her undergrad at Northeastern Illinois University.