HAZARD, Ky. (AP) -- A soldier who was killed in Afghanistan grew up and graduated from high school in eastern Kentucky.

The Department of Defense on Monday announced the combat death of 1st Sgt. John D. Blair of Calhoun, Ga.

Military officials said the 38-year-old Blair died June 20 in Mado Zayi, Afghanistan, after a rocket-propelled grenade struck his vehicle.

Blair was an Army National Guardsman, assigned to the 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment, based in Lawrenceville, Ga.

WYMT-TV in Hazard, Ky., reported Blair graduated from Cumberland High School in Harlan County in 1990 and had been a member of the Kentucky National Guard before moving to Georgia.