A member of the Sierra College family is grieving today over the loss of Sergeant Joshua Hardt. If you haven’t heard the story, a single unit based out of Fort Carson in Colorado suffered the loss of eight American heroes in a firefight in Afghanistan.

Sergeant Hardt was the son-in-law of this college leader. Because I haven’t spoken directly with this person, I’ll refrain from publishing that leader’s name, but our hearts are heavy today for this wonderful colleague and the extraordinary grief the family is experiencing.

Here’s a quote from the story:

The Pentagon announcement Wednesday confirmed their worst fears — the eight American soldiers killed in a bloody weekend attack in Afghanistan were all from a single Fort Carson unit.

One of them was Sgt. Joshua M. Hardt, 24, of Applegate, which is along Interstate 80 in Placer County between Auburn and Colfax.

Hardt was a graduate of Placer High School in Auburn and played football there, according to the Auburn Journal.

“They were attacked, the unit fought bravely, and in the end, they won the day,” said Maj. Daniel Chandler, the rear detachment commander for the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. “The brave soldiers that we lost and all of the comrades that were left there, there were a lot of heroes on that day,” he said.

Hundreds of insurgents armed with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades attacked the soldiers at two U.S. outposts in Nuristan province Saturday, causing one of the highest U.S. death tolls in Afghanistan in a single battle in more than a year.

We owe a great deal of gratitude to these brave American heroes who are fighting to protect our country and preserve our freedoms. Our hearts go out to Sergeant Hardt’s family — we are all immensely proud of this local hero’s service and sacrifice.

» Read the News Story