July was a double-edged sword for the United States military. It was the deadliest month in Afghanistan since the war began, with 42 Americans killed. It was also the least deadly for the U.S. in Iraq, where seven soldiers were killed, according to the tracking site www.icasualties.org.

But June is the month the North Carolina National Guard experienced it's greatest single loss of the war. Four soldiers from the 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team were killed in a roadside bomb on June 29th. The last of them will be buried today in Arlington National Cemetery. WFAE's Julie Rose reports:

At the request of his family, Sergeant Juan Carlos Baldeosingh will be laid to rest with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery this morning. He died in the same explosion on June 29th that killed three other soldiers from North Carolina's largest guard unit, the 30th Heavy Brigade Combat team. Nearly 4,000 soldiers for that unit deployed to Iraq in April.

First Lieutenant Matthew Boyle of the North Carolina National Guard Public Affairs office says losing those four soldiers sent shivers through the entire unit - and their families at home:

"It's always hard," says First Lieutenant Boyle. "One or five, you know any number is tough. It was tough last year with the guys from the MP unit. That was hard too for the guard. It's hard every time."

Last year, four soldiers from the guard's 1132nd Military Police Company were killed in action between March 22nd and April 18th.

The June 29th deaths of Sergeant Juan Carlos Baldeosingh, Sergeant First Class Edward Chester Kramer, Sergeant Roger Leeroy Adams, Jr. and Specialist Robert Lee Bittiker bring to 15 the total number of North Carolina National Guard soldiers killed in action since September 11th 2001.