DENVER -- A soldier from Colorado is one of the latest U.S. casualties in Afghanistan.

The Department of Defense said 25-year-old Staff Sgt. Jordan Bear of Denver, and 19-year-old Pfc. Payton Jones of Texas, died Thursday in Kandahar Province.

Officials said the men were killed on a joint U.S.-Afghan base by two Afghan soldiers and an Afghan civilian literacy instructor who fired from a tower.

Bear's commander said he was a "phenomenal leader who was beloved by the men he led."

The soldiers were stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C.