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Ranger killed in Afghanistan firefight

Sgt. 1st Class David McDowell, a Ranger assigned to 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, died Tuesday of wounds he sustained during combat operations in southern Afghanistan.

According to a press release from U.S. Army Special Operations Command, McDowell, 30, was engaged in a firefight when he was mortally wounded. He was evacuated to Bastion, Afghanistan, where he died of his wounds.

McDowell joined the Army in 1996 and was assigned to 2nd Battalion, serving as an automatic rifleman, machine-gun team leader, fire team leader, rifle squad leader and weapons squad leader.

In 2005, he moved to Fort Benning, Ga., and was assigned to the Regimental Training Detachment as a pre-Ranger Course instructor. After more than a year at Fort Benning, McDowell returned to 2nd Battalion as a platoon sergeant, the release said.

This was his seventh deployment to the war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, a second Bronze Star Medal with valor device and Meritorious Service Medal.

He is survived by his wife Joleen, son Joshua and daughter Erin of Lakewood, Wash., the release said.