The Associated Press

FORT DRUM - A network of family groups and military teams were offering grief support and other services Monday after a weekend helicopter crash killed 10 Fort Drum soldiers on the deadliest day for U.S. troops in Afghanistan in a year.

“We're providing a comfort zone around the families,” said Col. David Clark, garrison commander at Fort Drum. “We're no stranger to being in combat and in combat zones, and unfortunately, we know that losses like this do occur.

“The team has come together to help the families, colleagues and friends of those affected with grief counseling and the necessary support for getting through this time,” Clark said. “During tough times, friends come forward to help each other, and I'll tell you, the phone's been ringing off the hook from the local community asking how they can help.”

The soldiers killed Friday evening were from the 10th Mountain Division, based at the sprawling post in northern New York.

Army officials said they had notified the families of all 10 soldiers killed but will not release their names until Tuesday. So far, family members have said Christopher Donaldson of Effingham, Ill.; Bryan Allen Brewster of Victorville, Calif., and David “J.R.” Timmons Jr. of Lewisville, N.C., were killed. All 10 were from the 10th Mountain Division.

The soldiers died when their CH-47 Chinook transport helicopter crashed during combat operations in rugged and remote Kunar province. The unit was conducting operations on a mountaintop landing zone around 8 p.m. when it fell into a ravine, according to a statement from the U.S. military base in Afghanistan.

Six soldiers were aboard the helicopter and four more from a ground group were boarding when the aircraft rolled down the side of the mountain where it was landing, according to Lt. Col. Paul Fitzpatrick, the 10th Mountain Division's chief public affairs officer in Afghanistan.

The soldiers were conducting combat operations as part of a hunt for al-Qaida and Taliban militants believed to be hiding in the mountainous terrain.

The U.S. military said the helicopter was not downed by hostile fire.

It was the division's third deployment to Afghanistan in five years. During their first rotation there in 2002, 10th Mountain Division troops played a pivotal role in Operation Anaconda, the last major offensive that helped secure the country and complete the rout of the Taliban.

In their second deployment, 10th Mountain soldiers helped with the country's rebuilding, turning their energy to constructing schools, bridges and new government buildings, and training the Afghan National Army.

Lt. Tamara D. Lawrence, a spokeswoman for the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan, said Sunday that all 10 bodies had been recovered from the crash site, which could not be reached by road.

A ceremony in honor of the victims and their families was being planned.

“Every loss hurts. It motivates soldiers to go about their jobs, and that's what is happening,” Clark said. “I think the overall morale of the 10th Mountain Division couldn't be higher.”

This makes us more determined than ever to continue on with the mission.”

Army spokesman Benjamin Abel said approximately 5,800 Fort Drum soldiers had been deployed this year to Afghanistan, and another 3,500 were on the ground in Iraq.