Operation Afghanistan: Forward Operating Base Fenty Memorial

Across Afghanistan, at different U.S. military outposts, there are memorials dedicated to the men and women who sacrificed everything while serving their country since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

At the entrance of Forward Operating Base Fenty in Jalalabad, roughly 40 kilometers from the Tora Bora mountains, where Osama Bin Laden and others planned the attacks that took place on 9/11, sits one of those memorials, where 274 names are forever engraved within its walls.

"All 274 of them have paid the ultimate sacrifice for you and I," said FOB Fenty Commander, Lt. Col. Jamie Uptgraft. "It's the values, the character that's embedded within this stone, and that's fantastic."

"It captures the best things that our nation is about," said Command Sgt. Maj. Joseph Hissong. "Everything that we're founded on, the selfless acts of courage and everything, this is what this represents. You could go over each one of these names right here and you could talk about each of them, and they have all done some fantastic sacrifice that a lot of people just don't understand."

Along with monuments dedicated to the men and women who died while serving at FOB Fenty and the smaller outposts surrounding it, is a dedication to the man who the base is named after, LTC. Joseph Fenty. He and nine others were killed on May 5, 2006 when the Chinook helicopter they were flying in crashed during combat operations in the mountains high above the Chalas Valley.

Since the Spartan Brigade was formed in Alaska in 2005, this current deployment marks the 4-25's fourth tour to the Middle East, one in Iraq and three in Afghanistan. To date, 76 Spartans have been killed in action. That includes Sgt. David Brabander, of Wasilla, who was

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