A soldier from California was killed in Afghanistan on May 23rd, according to the Department of Defense. 2nd Lt. Travis A. Morgado, 25, was from San Jose.
The Pentagon reports Morgado was killed when when insurgents attacked his patrol with an IED (improvised explosive device).
Morgado's mother, Andrea Velasquez Kessler, told Home Post she has questions about her son's death:
"I don't want a single person killed. I just want to know, if some other member stepped on the IED, how was it no others were killed, especially if he wasn't the one who stepped on it. The story I received and the one given to the press from the Pentagon are conflicting."
Kessler told NBC Bay Area she received information that her son was killed when a member of his patrol "stepped on a pressure plate."
Morgado deployed to Afghanistan just two months ago. He joined the Army after graduating from the University of Washington with a degree in civil engineering.
Kessler told NBC Bay Area her son wanted to give back to a country he believed had given him so much:
"He just felt so fortune, he felt, why was he so lucky? We told him to join the Peace Corps. But he wanted to enlist."
Morgado was with the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state.
