Extended brigade suffers first casualty since return to Iraq (Eugene H.E. Alex)

WASHINGTON — The Army brigade whose year-long tour of duty in Iraq was extended by the Pentagon last month just as the soldiers were beginning to return home has suffered its first death since taking on the extra duty.

The Pentagon on Tuesday announced the death of Staff Sgt. Eugene H.E. Alex, 32, of Bay City, Mich. He was assigned to the 4th Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 172nd Stryker Brigade, from Fort Wainwright, Alaska.

He was not among the 301 members of the brigade who had already returned to Alaska, only to be ordered back to Iraq. He was among the approximately 3,700 soldiers of the 172nd who were transferred from their original mission area in northern Iraq to the Baghdad area, as part of an effort to quell sectarian violence.

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