BAUMHOLDER, Germany — It had only been about a week since 1st Lt. Thomas Schlichter last saw his friend — another lieutenant, also named Tom — while both men worked out at a gym on Combat Outpost Carver.

Schlichter was starting to get burned out with the deployment, but his buddy, 1st Lt. Thomas J. Brown, "just got new life and a platoon in Alpha Company," Schlichter said Tuesday during a memorial ceremony for Brown in Iraq.

The one thing Brown had wanted to do more than anything else since joining the 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment in Baumholder, Germany, was lead a rifle platoon.

"He was excited and happy to finally get a line platoon," said Schlichter, whose comments were read by a fellow lieutenant at a memorial ceremony Thursday at the Good Samaritan Chapel in Baumholder.

But on Sept. 23, while leading his men in a firefight in Hilaliyah, Iraq, Brown was killed by small-arms fire, according to the Army.

Lt. Col. Michael S. Shrout, Brown’s battalion commander, recalled during the Iraq ceremony the disappointment Brown showed when told he’d be leading a mortar platoon as his first assignment.

Brown had just finished Ranger school when he arrived in Baumholder, and was raring to go. By the time he arrived at Smith Barracks to join the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division before its Iraq deployment, all the rifle platoon leader slots were taken. But a mortar slot was open, and before Brown went to Ranger school, he’d attended a mortar leader course.

"It was a perfect fit, or so I thought," Shrout said.

When told of his assignment, Brown "was devastated," Shrout said.

But Shrout made a deal with the new officer. "I told him that within a year, after leading and training the mortar platoon, I would ensure that he was a rifle platoon leader in combat."

Brown immediately shook off his disappointment and focused on leading his mortarmen.

"I would always see Tom on COP Carver either at the mortar firing point drilling his crews or training his soldiers on duties and responsibilities of the (explosive ordnance disposal) escort mission," Maj. Jason Joose, the battalion’s executive officer, said during the ceremony in Baumholder.

"His performance did not go unnoticed and Tom finally got to do the one thing he joined the Army for — lead an infantry rifle platoon in combat," Joose said.

Joose happened to be back on leave for the birth of his twins when Brown was killed, and he noted that Brown was also a twin. Fate, he said, is a rather interesting thing.

"So one day several years from now, I will tell my daughters a story of a twin who left this world serving his country and doing what he wanted to do. I will tell them of his conviction, his honor and his integrity. I will tell them that I was honored to have known and served with such a man," Joose said.

"It is a story I wish I didn’t have to tell, but they will know, nonetheless."