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The Enterprise — Michael Koff

Precious cargo: A Guilderland town worker hangs a banner honoring Specialist Rafael A. Nieves Jr. who was killed by enemy fire while on a mounted patrol in Paktika Province, Afghanistan. The father of two young children, Nieves Jr., at his funeral, was described as a hero by a fellow infantryman. “He died saving the lives of everyone in our convoy, including mine,” wrote Private First Class Eric Peterson in 2011 soon after Nieves’s death.