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 Air Force Major Adrianna Vorderbruggen, who was commanding the
security patrol targeted in Monday's attack, was the first openly
gay U.S. servicewoman killed in action, the Daily Beast news website
reported, citing a Department of Defense official.
Vorderbruggen, 36, was assigned to the Air Force Office of Special
Investigations (OSI), the main law enforcement branch of the Air
Force. She was also the first female OSI agent killed in the line of
duty, Air Force spokeswoman Linda Card said.
She was commanding a routine security patrol on Monday in a village
near Bagram air base when a man on a motorcycle drove into the
middle of the group and detonated a bomb, Card said.
The attack was the deadliest on U.S. forces in Afghanistan this
year.
 Facebook postings on Tuesday by Vorderbruggen's loved ones mourned
her death and offered condolences to her wife, Heather, and their
son, Jacob. The family lives near Washington, D.C., where the couple
was married in June 2012, the year after the military's "don't ask,
don't tell" policy for gays was repealed.
"We do find comfort in knowing that Heather and Jacob are no longer
in the shadows and will be extended the rights and protections due
any American military family as they move through this incredibly
difficult period in their lives," said the posting from Military
Partners and Families Coalition.
Bagram, around 40 km (25 miles) north of Kabul, is one of the main
bases for the remaining 9,800 U.S. troops in Afghanistan after
international troops ended combat operations last year.
The other victims of Monday's attack included Air National Guard
Technical Sergeant Joseph Lemm, 45, a 15-year veteran of the New
York City Police Department who also volunteered in the Guard and
was on his third deployment to war zones.
He served in the Newburgh, New York-based 105th Airlift Wing with
Staff Sergeant Louis Bonacasa, 31, who also died in the attack, the
Air National Guard said.
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The other three killed were all U.S. Air Force staff sergeants who
served with Vorderbruggen in the OIS - Michael Cinco, 28, of
Mercedes, Texas; Peter Taub, 30, of Philadelphia; and Chester
McBride, 30, of Statesboro, Georgia, the Air Force said.
The Taliban, who claimed responsibility for the strike, remain
resilient 14 years after the start of U.S. military operations in
Afghanistan. It has ramped up its attacks this year, inflicting
heavier casualties on Afghan security forces.
The Pentagon warned last week of deteriorating security in
Afghanistan and assessed the performance of Afghan security forces
as "uneven and mixed."
More than 2,300 U.S. troops have died in the Afghan war since 2001,
but the pace of U.S. deaths has fallen sharply since the end of
formal U.S. combat and a drawdown of American forces.
(Additional reporting by Joseph Ax in New York and Steve Gorman in
Los Angeles; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Alistair Bell)
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