Mclaughlin, Ian Paul

Staff Sergeant Ian Paul McLaughlin was a 29-year-old soldier from Newport News, Virginia. He served as an active-duty member of the U.S. Army, assigned to Company B, 307th Brigade Engineer Battalion (Airborne), 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

According to U.S. Department of Defense statements, McLaughlin died on January 11, 2020, in Kandahar, Afghanistan, from wounds sustained in a hostile incident. The official release specified the cause as hostile, but did not provide further operational details regarding the nature of the attack.

McLaughlin's death occurred during Operation Freedom's Sentinel, the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan that began in January 2015. The mission succeeded Operation Enduring Freedom and focused on training, advising, and assisting Afghan forces, while conducting counterterrorism operations. The war in Afghanistan was America's longest, spanning nearly two decades by 2020.

The Pentagon announced McLaughlin's death in a press release on January 13, 2020. His death was reported by several U.S. news outlets, including the Military Times, which listed him among the year's casualties. He was one of 105 American service members killed during Operation Freedom's Sentinel, according to a tally maintained by the Defense Casualty Analysis System.

McLaughlin is remembered on memorial walls dedicated to fallen service members from Virginia. His name is inscribed on the Hampton Roads Veterans Memorial in his home region, a site that honors local personnel who died in conflicts following the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Ian Paul McLaughlin was killed during Operation Freedom's Sentinel (ongoing since January 2015). See the full roster of those killed in this conflict.

Among those documented in the same conflict: Golden, Jonathan Joseph, Gonzalez, Jose Juan, Sanchez, Maria Victoria, Dawson, John Michael.

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