Plymouth Air Force Major Killed; One Of 1st Openly Gay In Military
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO/AP) -- The deadliest attack in Afghanistan since 2013 killed six U.S. troops on Monday, including an Air Force major from Plymouth, according to the Department of Defense. They were killed when their patrol was attacked by a suicide bomber on a motorcycle near Bagram Air Base, the Defense Department said.
Maj. Adrianna Vorderbruggen, 36, was part of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, 9th Field Investigations Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. She died after a motorcyclist strapped with explosives drove into her security patrol near Bagram Air Base. Three other service members were injured.
CBS News reports Vorderbruggen was one of the first openly-gay service members, following the 2011 repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." She married in 2012, and had a 4-year-old son.
Her father, Joseph Vorderbruggen, told The Associated Press his daughter "loved life" and "loved the military." He said, "Whatever goal she had, she found a way."
Military Partners and Families Coalition, a group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender military families, issued a statement Tuesday mourning Vorderbruggen's death and praising the legacy she left behind.
It said Vorderbruggen, her wife and their son had been a part of the group "nearly from its start" and took "great pride in being members of the military community."
Vorderbruggen "lived for her family and for her country," the statement said.
The Taliban say they were behind the deadly attack.
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