A Hawaii-based sailor serving as a corpsman with Kaneohe Bay Marines in southern Afghanistan died yesterday in Farah Province, the Pentagon said today.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Anthony C. Garcia, 21, of Tyndall, Fla., died “while supporting combat operations,” a Pentagon release said. Navy corpsmen are assigned to Marine units and have jobs similar to those of an Army medic.
Garcia joined the Navy in July of 2006 and reported to Hawaii in February. His awards include the Purple Heart Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, Afghanistan Campaign Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.
About 1,000 Hawaii Marines with the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment arrived in Helmand and Farah provinces in late May, part of a surge of 21,000 additional U.S. troops ordered by President Obama into an increasingly restive Afghanistan.
The Marines are expected to be in the country seven months.
The Marines have engaged in skirmishes with anti-American forces in the poppy fields, orchards and walled compounds of Helmand province, and fallen victim to the increasing use of roadside bombs.
At least two other Hawaii Marines with the 2nd Battalion have been killed on the deployment.
Cpl. Matthew Lembke, 22, was on his first combat tour to Afghanistan after deploying twice before to Iraq.
The Tualatin, Ore., man suffered internal injuries and lost both legs in a June 22 roadside bomb blast in southern Afghanistan. He died July 10 at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.
Lance Cpl. Joshua R. Whittle, 20, of Downey. Calif., died June 6 when he stepped on a land mine in Helmand province.