GRAFENWÖHR, Germany — A memorial ceremony will be held Tuesday for a soldier who died from wounds caused by a roadside bomb in Paktia province, Afghanistan, said U.S. Army Garrison Hohenfels.
Staff Sgt. Jason A. Reeves, 32, of Odessa, Texas, and a member of the 2nd Military Intelligence Battalion, 66th Military Intelligence Brigade, died Sunday from the blast in the Gardez District, according to a Department of Defense news release.
The Daily Press newspaper, published in Victorville, Calif., reported Wednesday that Reeves had worked in military intelligence for 12 years.
“He just loved what he did,” his father, David, told the newspaper. “He believed in the military and he enjoyed his job. He had no bad thoughts about it, nor did we. He was doing what he loved.”
Reeves’ remains arrived in Dover, Del., on Wednesday, where his mother, Ruthie, and father were waiting following a flight from their Apple Valley, Calif., home. He is to be buried Dec. 18 at Cave Creek Cemetery in Phoenix, where he spent much of his childhood, the newspaper reported.
Reeves grew up all over the world — his father retired from the Air Force — but moved to Odessa to live with his grandparents and work in their cabinet shop during his last year of high school. After graduation, he visited a recruiter and liked what he heard, shipping out for basic training at Fort Benning, Ga., the newspaper reported.
“He just needed focus in his life,” David Reeves told the Daily Press.
Reeves served a year in Iraq before he was assigned to Hohenfels. Then two months ago, his unit was called to Afghanistan, the newspaper reported.
Troy Darr, USAG Hohenfels director of public affairs, said in an e-mail that the memorial for Reeves is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Hohenfels post theater.
