Soldier Killed in Action Identified - Green Beret was immigrant from the Baltic States

The office of Senator Cory Booker,D-New Jersey,has identified the US Soldier who was killed in Achin district of Nangarhar Province,Afghanistan on 1 January 2018.US Army First Sergeant Mihail Golin,34,of Fort Lee,New Jersey,was killed by enemy fire while on dismounted patrol in the mountainous region near the Pakistani border that has been the haven of ISIL-K Islamist extremists.SGT Golin was a member of the 2nd Battalion,10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) out of Fort Carson,Colorado.*
SGT Golin had immigrated to the US from NATO Ally Latvia when he was 21.His father,David Golin,said he was proud of his son,who wanted to serve his new country.Other survivors include SGT Golin's ex-wife and a daughter,6.*
It's been pointed out by several media outlets that NATO's Resolute Support Mission commander,US Army General John Nicholson,has warned that the President's new,more assertive South Asia policy would expose US troops to more danger in Afghanistan.They are embedding with Afghan National Defence and Security Forces closer to the front lines,in addition to continuing the counterterror raids that were already being staged with Afghan commandos.

Irene,Katia and Isabel:Nature's Tropical Blowhards

Mariners and Mid-Atlantic residents are warily observing another tropical system developing,even as the region busily cleans up after the previous one.As of Tuesday evening,Hurricane Irene had killed 43 people,and three million were still without power.A thousand roads were blocked in Connecticut,and water rescues continued.The storm's cost was up to seven billion dollars,and Mid-Atlantic agriculture was taking a blow as well,with 30,000 chickens perishing in Maryland,while New Jersey's significant blueberry crop was damaged.
Hurricane Irene wasn't the worst tropical system we have seen.It will go down as a moderately destructive event;but if you are in one of the eleven towns that remain isolated by flooded or crumbled roadways,it will indeed seem one of the worst to you personally.
Far out in the Atlantic,just off the coast of West Africa,another unwelcome guest is making its way towards us.Tropical Storm Katia is just beginning its path of mayhem,and could be a hurricane by Wednesday.
Sometimes hurricanes occur in patterns,revisiting the same area for an extended period.That would be the worst case scenario for the Mid-Atlantic,which until Irene had not seen a hurricane landfall since Isabel,a Cape Verde storm like the new Katia,struck in September 2003,leaving 51 deaths and 4.3 billion dollars of inflation-adjusted damage in its wake.
Update:Katia has now been upgraded to a hurricane,with top winds of 75 mph.It is located just east of the Leeward Islands.It will be days before its course can be ascertained.
The death toll from Irene was 45 as of Wednesday evening.The damage estimate was over 12 billion dollars.Just over two million remained without power,and food was scarce in some towns.Rescues continued.
All New Jersey rivers were receding,but the Passaic was still a roaring rapids.More than 24 feet above flood stage,the river inundated Wallington.The Passaic drains Northern New Jersey,which had its wettest August on record even before Irene.
In Vermont,the National Guard delivered relief supplies.Road access was restored to all but one community.A base lodge was destroyed by a swollen creek at the Killington ski resort,and several other businesses in the state were ruined by the flooding.