Street dedication honors fallen Airman

  • Published
  • By Laura McGowan
  • 88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  On Friday, Oct. 23,  at 11 a.m., there will be a street dedication ceremony at Barnes Memorial Park here in honor of Special Agent Matthew Joseph Kuglics.

SA Kuglics graduated from Green High School, Green, Oh., in 2000, and enlisted in the United States Air Force in August of that same year. His home of record is Canton, Oh.
In March 2004, he was selected for a Special Duty Assignment with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations and graduated from the United States Air Force Special Investigations Academy at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, Brunswick, Georgia, in June 2004. His first assignment was to AFOSI Detachment 101, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Oh.

SA Kuglics displayed an untiring work ethic, completing a rigorous Probationary Agent Training program and earning two Associate of Science Degrees - one in Electronic Systems Technology and another in Police Science. SA Kuglics volunteered to deploy and was assigned to AFOSI Expeditionary Detachment 2410, Kirkuk Regional Air Base, Iraq, in April 2006. While there, he provided counterintelligence support to coalition forces to include nearly 4000 Air Force, Army, and Navy personnel.

In November 2006, SA Kuglics was reassigned to the Anti-Terrorism Specialty Team, AFOSI Detachment 352, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. Shortly after his arrival, SA Kuglics volunteered for a second deployment to the Middle East and was again assigned to AFOSI EDET 2410, Kirkuk Regional Air Base, Iraq.

On 5 June 2007, SA Kuglics was in a convoy returning to Kirkuk Regional Air Base. Approximately two miles south of the base, an improvised explosive device detonated adjacent to his convoy and he was killed. SA Kuglics was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, the Air Force Commendation Medal, and the Air Force Combat Action Medal. 

Communication Boulevard will be renamed Kuglics Boulevard in honor of SA Kuglics.