3 MARSOC Marines, dog die in Afghan blaze - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

3 MARSOC Marines, dog die in Afghan blaze

Three Marine Corps special operators died Sunday along with a military dog after their living quarters caught fire in western Afghanistan.

Staff Sgt. Patrick R. Dolphin, 29, Sgt. Dennis E. Kancler, 26, and Sgt. Christopher M. Wrinkle, 29, were killed in Herat province, according to a Defense Department news release issued late Wednesday. All three were assigned to Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command’s 2nd Marine Special Operations Battalion, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

MARSOC officials said only that the men died in a “non-combat” incident, and that the matter is being investigated by U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan.

But other sources with knowledge of the mishap told Marine Corps Times that the men died in a house fire.

A fourth MARSOC Marine and an Army special operator sustained unspecified injures as a result of the incident, said Maj. Jeffrey Landis, a MARSOC spokesman. It’s unclear whether they were evacuated from Afghanistan, he said.

A military dog also died in the incident, Landis said. He declined to comment on whether a fire caused the deaths.

Dolphin, of Moscow, Pa., worked as an element leader within the battalion, Landis said. He leaves behind a wife, according to media reports from his hometown.

Kancler, of Brecksville, Ohio, was a joint terminal attack controller. The son of Brecksville’s former police chief, he left the Corps a few years ago before deciding to re-enlist, local media reported.

Wrinkle, of Dallastown, Pa., was a dog handler. He leaves behind a fiancée, according to local media.

Few details have emerged about the Marines’ mission in Herat province. Security for the region, which borders Iran, transitioned from NATO to Afghan control in late July. Taliban and other groups opposed to government rule have been blamed for the abductions of well-known political and business leaders there, according to report on the province published late last year by the Naval Postgraduate School.

Corruption and rising violence between drug smugglers and Iranian operatives were cited as other security concerns.

Landis said the Marines were on a routine deployment. For MARSOC, that can mean a variety of missions, to include foreign internal defense — that is, “helping the government prosper and protect itself from insurgencies, lawlessness and subversion,” he said.

“These were some multi-dimensional operators,” Landis said. “They were carrying out the silent success we expect of Marines of this caliber.”