MANCOS, CO. (THECOUNT) — Gunnery Sergeant Scott A. Koppenhafer of Mancos, Colorado, has been identified as the soldier killed in Iraq while supporting the joint mission to defeat ISIS.
Koppenhafer, 35, died Saturday “after being engaged by enemy small arms fire while conducting combat operations,” officials said in a release late Sunday. The incident remains under investigation.
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Koppenhafer belonged to 2nd Marine Raider Battalion, Marine Forces Special Operations Command, out of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
According to MARSOC officials, Koppenhafer had joined the Marine Corps in 2005 and served a decade as a critical skills operator. While in that role, he earned numerous valor decorations, as well as the distinction of being named honor graduate of the arduous MARSOC individual training course in 2009, and MARSOC Critical Skills Operator of the Year in 2018, reports Military.
Prior to joining the command, Koppenhafer was a machine gunner with 1st Battalion, 5th Marines and then a scout sniper, deploying aboard the 31st and 11th Marine Expeditionary Units.
He deployed four times as a MARSOC Raider, earning a meritorious promotion to staff sergeant on his first deployment to Afghanistan, officials said.
Geo quick facts: The Town of Mancos is a Statutory Town located in Montezuma County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 1,336 at the 2010 United States Census – Wikipedia.