WASHINGTON – The Defense Department announced Monday that a soldier from Orange County died in Afghanistan.

Maj. Paul Voelke, 36, of Monroe, a member of the 1998 graduating class at West Point, died on Friday, June 22 in Mazar E. Sharif, Afghanistan.   He died of non-combat related injuries, military officials said. The incident is under investigation and additional details will be made available once the investigation has been completed, they said.

Voelke, an infantryman, had been in the Army for 14 years and is survived by his wife and two children. This was his second deployment to Afghanistan; he had two previous deployments to Iraq.

Voelke was awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart and Afghanistan Campaign Medal.

He was assigned to the 1-30th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team and deployed in February 2012 for a nine-month deployment.  His home base was Fort Stewart, Georgia.