{"id":62818,"date":"2021-09-10T10:39:33","date_gmt":"2021-09-10T10:39:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/09\/10\/wyoming-troop-deaths-20-years-apart-bookend-afghanistan-war\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T12:02:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T12:02:03","slug":"wyoming-troop-deaths-20-years-apart-bookend-afghanistan-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/flashpoints\/2021\/09\/10\/wyoming-troop-deaths-20-years-apart-bookend-afghanistan-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Wyoming troop deaths 20 years apart bookend Afghanistan war"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) \u2014 When news came that a 20-year-old Wyoming soldier was one of the last casualties of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/newsletters\/breaking-news-alert\/2021\/08\/30\/its-official-the-us-has-no-boots-on-the-ground-in-afghanistan\/\" target=\"_blank\">two-decade-long U.S. war in Afghanistan<\/a>, it arrived as a tragic bookend: A 20-year-old soldier from Wyoming was among the first to die in the same war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Army Ranger Spc. Jonn Edmunds, of Cheyenne, was one of the war\u2019s first two casualties when a Black Hawk helicopter on a search-and-rescue mission crashed in Pakistan on Oct. 19, 2001.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last month, the family of Marine Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, of Bondurant just outside Jackson, got word he was among 13 U.S. troops killed in a suicide bombing Aug. 26 at the Kabul airport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"629\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Lance-Cpl.-Rylee-McCollum_web.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-56528\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Lance-Cpl.-Rylee-McCollum_web.jpg.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Lance-Cpl.-Rylee-McCollum_web.jpg.jpg?resize=300,157 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Lance-Cpl.-Rylee-McCollum_web.jpg.jpg?resize=768,403 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Lance-Cpl.-Rylee-McCollum_web.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,537 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Marine Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum of Jackson, Wyoming, was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, at MCB Camp Pendleton, California. (Marine Corps)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Edmunds and McCollum were both killed on their first deployments. In between, almost 2,500 U.S. troops died in the Afghanistan war, most with far less attention than the two Wyoming men got.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As with Edmunds\u2019 death in the chaotic aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, McCollum\u2019s strikes an especially sad chord as&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/joe-biden-middle-east-afghanistan-8d6d6d9e1e7cddbd49caf0b52a40c2e8\">Americans struggle to process&nbsp;<\/a>what good \u2014 if any \u2014 has come from their nation\u2019s longest war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThat was a totally senseless death,\u201d Edmunds\u2019 father, Donn Edmunds, said of McCollum. \u201cSeeing the other people losing their loved ones, all that does is bring back bad memories for my family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A 25-year U.S. Army veteran who served in Vietnam, Edmunds remembers how two officers knocked on his door on the outskirts of Cheyenne before sunrise on Oct. 20, 2001, bringing word of his son\u2019s death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI looked out the window, I saw them standing there and all I could think was \u2018Oh my God, I know what they\u2019re here for.\u2019 I\u2019ve done notifications so I knew,\u201d said Edmunds, who as a military police officer participated in telling relatives of loved ones\u2019 deaths. He got choked up and quiet while looking at a display of his son\u2019s medals and the folded American flag presented to him and other families of fallen soldiers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey came in and gave us the \u2018Regret to inform you\u2019 speech. My wife had been up by then, and I watched her melt into this carpet right here on the floor,\u201d Edmunds recalled. \u201cAnd they asked, \u2018Is there anything we can do?\u2019 and we said, \u2018No, just let us absorb this, and we have to be able to accept this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/flashpoints\/afghanistan\/2021\/08\/28\/here-are-the-names-of-the-13-service-members-who-died-in-afghanistan-attack\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"170\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/6800017.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Here are the names of the 13 U.S. service members killed in Afghanistan attack<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Thirteen U.S. service members died Thursday in Kabul, Afghanistan, supporting Operation Freedom\u2019s Sentinel.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wyoming is the least populated state and one that values tradition: rodeo and county fairs in summer, elk hunting in fall, calving season in spring and military service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jonn Edmunds and his friends grew up playing with water guns, then laser tag in the family\u2019s big yard. Eventually the honors student moved up to paintball, Donn Edmunds recalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe used to have the guys from the Air Force come out here. And they\u2019d knock on the door and say, \u2018Can Jonn come out and play paintball with us?\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"3000\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Edmunds2.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-100096\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Edmunds2.jpg.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Edmunds2.jpg.jpg?resize=200,300 200w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Edmunds2.jpg.jpg?resize=768,1152 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Edmunds2.jpg.jpg?resize=683,1024 683w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Edmunds2.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,1536 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Edmunds2.jpg.jpg?resize=1365,2048 1365w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A photo of Army Ranger Spc. Jonn Edmunds, who along with another soldier died when a Black Hawk helicopter on a search-and-rescue mission crashed in Pakistan in October 2001, is seen in his father&#8217;s home in Cheyenne, Wyo., Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2021. They were among the first U.S. casualties in the Afghanistan war. (AP Photo\/Thomas Peipert)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On the opposite side of Cheyenne, F.E. Warren Air Force Base has overseen nuclear missiles in silos beneath the Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska plains since the 1960s. Each July, the city hosts its massive Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo festival but Cheyenne&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com\/russell.html\">has always been a military town at heart.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Like Edmunds, McCollum seemed born with soldiering in his blood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He grew up in the Jackson Hole area, a region of rugged, forested mountains and big-time outdoors culture on the other side of Wyoming from Cheyenne. Even as a toddler, McCollum played with toy rifles, pretending he was a soldier or hunter, relatives said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As a high school wrestler, he distinguished himself by&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jhnewsandguide.com\/news\/cops_courts\/rylee-mccollum-a-jackson-kid-a-lifelong-marine\/article_aaf630ed-c413-5134-9b51-b325eab30be7.html\">training intensely.&nbsp;<\/a>At school, in 2017, he and his father&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jhnewsandguide.com\/news\/schools\/parents-upset-by-multiple-choice-answer-shooting-at-trump\/article_7da8a197-187c-5b06-b731-bc546b054836.html\">spoke out publicly<\/a>&nbsp;when a multiple-choice quiz for a reading assignment facetiously offered \u201cshooting at Trump\u201d as an answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jackson, where McCollum graduated from high school, is a wealthy ski and summer tourism enclave near Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks that many in Wyoming view as socioeconomically out of step and politically more moderate than the rest of the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yet the town of 10,000 has shown no less respect for veterans and military service, especially over the past 20 years, said Joseph Burke, commander of the local American Legion post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt was around 9\/11 that people started to recognize veterans, the sacrifices they and their families really made,\u201d Burke said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got kids who go in the service from here all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">McCollum\u2019s widow, Jiennah Crayton, is due to deliver a baby in a couple of weeks and the family plans a memorial service sometime after. Meanwhile, three online fundraising efforts have brought in over $900,000 for Crayton and the child\u2019s education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After Jonn Edmunds\u2019 death, television trucks lined up outside the family\u2019s home. Reporters gathered at their daughter\u2019s school, Donn Edmunds recalled, and the family lived like \u201chermits\u201d for a few weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At a memorial service that filled a 4,500-seat gym, Jonn Edmunds\u2019 commanding officer remembered him as a gritty soldier who still had \u201cthat intense look on his face\u201d even after other soldiers looked tired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Such crowds wouldn\u2019t always show up, however, at services for troops killed in Afghanistan and Iraq over the next two decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYeah, people got numb. But the families that were affected never got numb,\u201d Edmunds said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Edmunds family received about $24,000 in donations which they gave away to causes including the Wounded Warrior Project, a charity for troops wounded since 2001, Edmunds said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He has spent the years since his son\u2019s death riding his Harley-Davidson with the Patriot Guard Riders, a biker group that helps maintain decorum at military funerals, running unsuccessfully for the Wyoming Legislature and trying to raise interest in establishing a veterans memorial park. Now he\u2019s thinking about suing the U.S. government over its withdrawal from Afghanistan, which he criticized as poorly organized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAll of these people\u2019s sons were great. Every one of them was a traumatic loss for their family. And the thing about it is, what for?\u201d Edmunds said. \u201cWe have abandoned their mission.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The work of consoling and counseling grief-stricken relatives, however, was therapeutic both for him and for relatives, said Edmunds, 72, who runs a security business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A woman once asked at an event held by the Army\u2019s Survivor Outreach Services family support group whether losing a loved one ever got easier, Edmunds recalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI said \u2018Ma\u2019am, it will never get easier. The only thing that will happen to you is time will separate you from the event,\u2019\u201d Edmunds said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Amy Beth Hanson in Helena, Montana, contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Edmunds and McCollum were both killed on their first deployments. In between, almost 2,500 U.S. troops died in the Afghanistan war.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":100091,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":13,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,13,24,89,16,26],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3262,2841],"class_list":["post-62818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-flashpoints","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"B47C6OIWYRDLBHTQPXF6R3RPEQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-military\/2021\/09\/10\/wyoming-troop-deaths-20-years-apart-bookend-afghanistan-war\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Wyoming troop deaths 20 years apart bookend Afghanistan war - Air Force TImes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Edmunds and McCollum were both killed on their first deployments. In between, almost 2,500 U.S. troops died in the Afghanistan war.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wyoming troop deaths 20 years apart bookend Afghanistan war\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Edmunds and McCollum were both killed on their first deployments. In between, almost 2,500 U.S. troops died in the Afghanistan war.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/flashpoints\/2021\/09\/10\/wyoming-troop-deaths-20-years-apart-bookend-afghanistan-war\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Air Force TImes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-09-10T10:39:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T12:02:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mead Gruver, The Associated Press, Thomas Peipert\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mead Gruver, The Associated Press, Thomas Peipert\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/airforcetimes\\\/flashpoints\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/10\\\/wyoming-troop-deaths-20-years-apart-bookend-afghanistan-war\\\/#article\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/airforcetimes\\\/flashpoints\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/10\\\/wyoming-troop-deaths-20-years-apart-bookend-afghanistan-war\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"author\": {\n\t                \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/airforcetimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"headline\": \"Wyoming troop deaths 20 years apart bookend Afghanistan war\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2021-09-10T10:39:33+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T12:02:03+00:00\",\n\t            \"mainEntityOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/airforcetimes\\\/flashpoints\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/10\\\/wyoming-troop-deaths-20-years-apart-bookend-afghanistan-war\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"wordCount\": 1179,\n\t            \"commentCount\": 0,\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/airforcetimes\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/airforcetimes\\\/flashpoints\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/10\\\/wyoming-troop-deaths-20-years-apart-bookend-afghanistan-war\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Edmunds1.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"articleSection\": [\n\t                \"Daily News Roundup\",\n\t                \"Flashpoints\",\n\t                \"Home\",\n\t                \"Middle Column\",\n\t                \"News\",\n\t                \"Newsletters\"\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"CommentAction\",\n\t                    \"name\": \"Comment\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/airforcetimes\\\/flashpoints\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/10\\\/wyoming-troop-deaths-20-years-apart-bookend-afghanistan-war\\\/#respond\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/airforcetimes\\\/flashpoints\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/10\\\/wyoming-troop-deaths-20-years-apart-bookend-afghanistan-war\\\/\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/airforcetimes\\\/flashpoints\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/10\\\/wyoming-troop-deaths-20-years-apart-bookend-afghanistan-war\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Wyoming troop deaths 20 years apart bookend Afghanistan war - 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