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Fairview soldier killed in Afghanistan

Douglas Riney, an Army soldier and firefighter from Fairview, Illinois has been killed in action overseas.Fairview is about 40 miles southeast of Galesburg in Fulton County.

According to a CNN report, Wednesday, a member of the U.S. military was killed in an attack near Kabul, the Afghanistan capital.

Riney’s family confirmed to WGIL today that it was in fact him who was killed.

26-year old Riney was a graduate of Spoon River Valley High School and a volunteer member of the Fairview Fire Protection District.

Fairview Fire Chief Mark Hanlin says that Riney joined the Army in 2012 after two and a half years with the fire district.

Hanlin, also a long-time family friend, remembers Riney as a “quiet kid” who matured into a reliable firefighter, always responding to fires quickly whenever he was available.

“I hated to see him go but knew it was something he needed to do for his family at the time he left the department,” Hanlin says. “We actually just gave him a leave of absence telling him we’d have an open spot for him when he came back.”

Riney’s passing comes as the local Afghani government has come under recent increased pressure from the Taliban and other insurgents.

According to icasualites.org a website that  tracks deaths based on public records, Riney was the eight American service member killed in Afghanistan this year.

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