A soldier who called Kapolei home died Jan. 20 in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan from small arms fire when he was attacked by insurgents, the Army said.
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Edward Balli, 42, who was raised in Salinas, Calif., had dreams of retirement in Hawaii in four years, his family told the Monterey County, Calif., Herald newspaper.
Balli was a drone pilot and was on his third deployment to Afghanistan and had gone on two tours to Iraq, the newspaper said.
"From what we were told … it appears that his camp was overrun by the enemy. He succumbed to a stomach wound," his uncle, Tony Virrueta, said in the newspaper.
According to his unit, the 2nd Cavalry Regiment in Vilseck, Germany, Balli’s home of record was Kapolei. The Army said he is survived by wife Kristie Balli, stepson Michael Donios and stepdaughters Momilani Morales and Desiare Abrera.
Fellow soldiers described Balli as an "outstanding leader of soldiers," the Army said. "He was a person with a kind heart and smile that aimed to please those who he worked for and with. He was a very motivated person who loved his job as an unmanned aerial system operations officer platoon leader, providing the eyes in the sky for those soldiers on the ground."
Five members of the Minnesota National Guard were wounded in the suicide attack that killed Balli when a small truck packed with explosives drove to the main gate of Forward Operating Base Pasab and the driver detonated the device, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
A MINIVAN then sped at the gate, and eight gunmen in military fatigues and wearing suicide vests jumped out and tried to attack the base, the newspaper said. The enemy fighters were killed, the Star Tribune quoted a NATO official as saying.
The United States is winding down its combat mission in Afghanistan, and about 37,500 American troops are left in the country. Large units of Hawaii Marines and Schofield Barracks soldiers no longer deploy to Afghanistan.
Balli’s death is the second with Hawaii ties this month. Hawaii National Guard Sgt. Drew M. Scobie, 25, was killed Jan. 10 along with a Wyoming soldier and a civilian when their twin-engine turboprop aircraft went down in Afghanistan.
According to the website icasualties.org, which tracks Iraq and Afghanistan casualties, eight U.S. military personnel have died in Afghanistan in 2014.
Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced for Scobie or Balli.
