US troops who have died while serving in Iraq and Kuwait

US troops killed in Iraq and Kuwait

Army Spc. Faith Hinkley

When she was a teen, Faith Hinkley, of Colorado Springs, Colo., was a cheerleader, rooting for her Monte Vista High School Pirates.

Several years after graduating, nearly 1,000 mourners gathered in the gymnaisum where Hinkley led cheers to pay their final respects. At 23, she was killed in an attack on her unit in Iskandariya.

“Faith stepped up when her nation needed her,” said Brig. Gen. Jim Pasquarette. “Faith Hinkley was a cut above.”

She had been assigned to Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

The Pueblo Chieftan reported that Pasquarette also noted Hinkley had been an intelligence specialist in her first deployment, and had identified two enemy weapons caches.

Hinkley was committed to public service even before enlisting.

She served on her student council and mentored young girls through an association called the Rainbow Girls.

Hinkley’s father, David, said that when she told him of her decision to enlist in 2007, she cited the values of duty, honor and courage.

Army Sgt. Brandon E. Maggart

When it came to sports, Brandon Maggart was a fan with his mind made up. He loved the St. Louis Cardinals and University of Missouri teams, and there was no changing that, good season or bad.

The military said the 24-year-old from Kirksville, Mo., died Aug. 22 at Basrah, Iraq, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with indirect fire.

Maggart graduated from Kirksville R-III High School in 2005 and enlisted in June 2006. He was assigned to Joint Base Lewis-McChord and also had served in Iraq from March 2007 until May 2008.

His wife of four years, Teresa, said he was set to visit home on leave in September and had spoken with her through Skype the day before he died.

His family said in his obituary that they’d planned a slew of his favorite activities for him, including golfing, fishing, eating at a steakhouse and going to the ocean and to Seattle Seahawks and Mariners games. They also planned to go to the first soccer game for Maggart’s young son, Blake, whom he’d hoped to teach to hunt and fish.

Maggart’s survivors include his parents, Teddy and Beth Maggart; a brother, Joshua; and a sister, Ashley.

Army Spc. Jamal M. Rhett

During Jamal Rhett’s deployments in Iraq, the care packages from home came frequently and full of Tastykakes and wet wipes.

“The ones with the chocolate icing with vanilla stripes were his favorite,” said his aunt, Sonya Winters. The wipes were to keep clean in the desert.

“He was a very clean person,” Miller said.

Rhett, 24, of Palmyra, N.J., died Aug. 15 in Ba Qubah, Iraq, when his vehicle came under an insurgent grenade attack. He was a combat medic assigned to Schofield Barracks.

Rhett graduated from the Burlington County Institute of Technology in 2003 and spent a year at Bloomfield College before enlisting in the Army. He had intended to attend medical school.

“He was a good citizen, a positive member of our school community,” said BCIT superintendent Dolores Szymanski. “He participated in freshman basketball and was a very respectful young man with a really positive attitude.”

“He was my knight in shining armor,” said his mother, Michelle Watson. “I not only loved him as a son, but I liked him.”

During their last conversation, Rhett told his mother that he was close to earning a promotion to sergeant.