Shaw was on his second deployment to the Philippines and had been a student at Texas Southern University before he joined the military in 1995. He is survived by his wife, their five children, and a large extended family. Staff Sgt. Martin originally joined the Army Reserves and volunteered to go to Iraq after the September 11, 2001, attacks. His deployment was canceled, and Martin decided to become a Green Beret. Martin followed in the footsteps of both of his grandfathers, who served in the Army during World War II. He is survived by his wife, who lives near Tacoma, Washington.

 

Approximately 300 US soldiers are stationed in the southern part of the country to train the local army in fighting insurgents in an area that is a stronghold of Abu Sayyaf, which advocates the establishment of an Islamic state in the southern Philippines and has been active since the early 1990s. Because of an agreement with the Philippines, U.S. troops do not take part in combat. Rather, their role is to train and advise the Philippine army in counter-insurgency operations. Philippine army spokesman Lt-Col Romeo Brawner said that they are “still investigating to determine who was behind the explosion.” 

-Missy Guerrero