Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ind. — An Indiana soldier who was just 32 days into his first deployment was one of two American service members killed in a suicide bombing attack in Afghanistan, his father said Thursday.

Mark Hunter said members of the Indiana National Guard informed him Wednesday night that his son, 23-year-old U.S. Army Sgt. Jonathon Michael Hunter, died in the attack on a NATO convoy near the southern Afghan city of Kandahar.

The Department of Defense confirmed the deaths Thursday night. Officials also identified the second soldier killed as Army Spc. Christopher Michael Harris, 25, of Jackson Springs, N.C..

The U.S. military in Afghanistan earlier said that four other American troops were wounded in Wednesday’s attack.

Jonathon Hunter, who grew up in Columbus, about 40 miles south of Indianapolis, left July 1 on his first deployment and was providing security for the convoy that was attacked, his father said. He joined the Army in 2014 and was a member of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division in Fort Bragg, N.C.

Vice President Mike Pence, who is also from Columbus, released a statement Friday regarding Hunter's passing:

"Karen and I join the Columbus community and every American in honoring the service and mourning the passing of a courageous American, Sergeant Jonathon Hunter. Sgt. Hunter was a proud Hoosier and an American hero – and his legacy will ever be enshrined in our hearts. Our prayers will be with Sgt. Hunter's wife Whitney, his parents, his brother Marcus, and all of his loved ones and friends.”

Mark Hunter said his son was excited about his first deployment, but that he, as an Army veteran, was apprehensive.

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“He had been there 32 days. I’m former military, me and his uncle both, so we know the dangers,” Hunter told the Associated Press by phone from his home in Columbus.

He said his son, who got married last October and has an older brother and two stepsisters, was cheerful, loving and religious.

“If you were down, he would cheer you up and he was God-loving. He was raised in the church,” he said.

The family later issued a statement saying in part, “Jonathon loved his unit and serving his country and was excited about the opportunity to go to Afghanistan to do his part in fighting injustice.”

Hunter said he would travel Friday to Dover Air Force Base to retrieve his son’s remains and that funeral plans were being determined by him, Jonathon’s mother and Jonathon’s wife, Whitney.

After graduating from Columbus East High School in 2011, he said his son spent a short time in Nashville, Tenn., pursuing his dream of becoming a music producer before he enrolled Indiana State University in Terre Haute, where he studied criminology and business.

But Hunter said his son eventually left ISU and joined the Army in April 2014 because of he didn’t want to burden him with paying for his college.

“After he got into school — and of course we were struggling with bills, to pay for it — he decided to join. He said, ‘Dad, I know that going into the military I can get a free education,’” Mark Hunter said.

He said his family has a history of military service that dates back to the Civil War.

“I’m just proud of him. He was a great soldier. He made (sergeant) in a little over three years, which is pretty rare, they tell me,” Hunter said.

Before Jonathon Hunter’s death, 207 Indiana service members had died since 2002 in the war in Afghanistan or Iraq, or supporting those operations, said Tim Dyke, director of training and services Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs. He said that’s based on a tally produced by the agency’s former director.