A member of the U.S. Special Forces with the U.S. Army was killed Wednesday while on patrol in Afghanistan with the Utah National Guard. Aaron Butler, 27, was killed by an explosion while clearing a building in eastern Afghanistan. He was with the group clearing the building for safety purposes, but it turned out the building was booby trapped. The other 11 he was with were dealt "various degrees of injury," according to Governor Herbert. Eight of those involved are Utah residents and three live out of state, although they have remained members of the Utah National Guard.
According to family Butler was one of four soldiers who graduated from the Army Green Beret Special Forces Qualification Course in January of 2016. He was well known in his home town of Monticello, and was the 7th of 8 children. He joined the Utah National Guard while still in high school.
Currently there are 133 members of the Utah National Guard serving in that region of Afghanistan.
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