FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. -- Two Fort Campbell soldiers killed by a roadside bomb were the first from the 101st Airborne Division to die in Afghanistan.

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The Department of Defense said in a statement Thursday that Spc. Jeremy R. Gullett, 22, of Greenup, Ky., and Staff Sgt. Kevin C. Roberts, 25, of Farmington, N.M., were killed May 7 in Afghanistan's Sabari District.

Both were assigned to the 101st Airborne Division's Fourth Brigade Combat Team at Fort Campbell, a sprawling Army post on the Kentucky-Tennessee line.

Fifteen other soldiers assigned to tenant units at the post have died in Afghanistan, according to The Associated Press casualty database. They were mostly members of the 5th Special Forces Group or the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, known as the "Night Stalkers."

Gullett's mother, Cheryl Gullet, told The (Ashland) Independent that her son joined the Army in 2003 when he graduated from Greenup County High School.

"He always dreamed he'd go into the service, ever since he was 6 years old," Cheryl Gullett said.

The soldier was a member of the high school's Junior ROTC program.

His unit was deployed to Afghanistan in March, a week before Easter. He previously served 2 1/2 years in Korea.

Roberts entered the Army in November 2001 and arrived at Fort Campbell in April 2002. He is survived by his wife, Donnice; son, Keeghan; and daughter Caehlen all of Fort Campbell; and his parents, Milton and Gerri Roberts of Farmington, N.M.

Jeremy Gullet was married and had a 21-month-old daughter with his wife, Janeth, a native of the Philippines, his mother said. He was also adopting his wife's 6-year-old daughter.

An uncle, Ron Gullett, told the newspaper that the family had been told the soldier's remains would arrive in a week to 10 days.

The uncle said he will be buried in a family cemetery with military and firefighter rites.

The soldier had been a member of the Little Sandy Volunteer Fire Department.

Including Gullet and Roberts, a total of 36 soldiers from Fort Campbell have died in the latest deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Since the war started, 237 soldiers from the post have been killed.