The MySpace note written by a comrade in arms of Pfc. Michael Yates said it all.

“In this life we live we expect to lose brothers, but not at the hands of our siblings.”

Yates and four others were killed Monday at Camp Liberty in Iraq when Army Sgt. John M. Russell allegedly opened fire at a combat stress control center.

While the military scrambles to find out what might have set Russell off, five families are left to mourn those killed. Yates, who was with the 3rd Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 172nd Infantry Brigade out of Grafenwöhr, Germany, was seeking help at the center.

Navy Cmdr. Charles Springle, 52, and Army reservist Maj. Matthew Houseal, 54, two of the other shooting victims, were there to help.

The two other victims, named late Wednesday, are Sgt. Christian E. Bueno-Galdos, 25, of Paterson, N.J., and Spc. Jacob D. Barton, 20, of Lenox, Mo.

Bueno-Galdos, like Yates, was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, but little biographical information about him was available Wednesday. Barton was with the 277th Engineer Company, 420th Engineer Brigade, out of Waco, Texas.

“The name is mike and i am in the US army,” reads the “About Me” blurb on Michael Yates’ MySpace page. “I am stationed in Germany!! I am currently doing a tour in a Screwed up country they call Iraq. My job title is a scout. There are two jobs in the military Killers (Combat arms) or the ones that wish they were.”

The 19-year-old private first class had a baby son named Kamren.

Yates’ stepfather, Richard Van Blargan Jr., told The Washington Post that his son was being counseled at the center after a “couple of altercations” and recently returned to Iraq from home leave last month.

Yates told his family of someone in his eight-member counseling group — whom Van Blargan took to be Russell — who “really seemed like he was out in left field,” “a fairly decent guy” but who “had some major issues.”

Yates called Federalsburg, Md., home and was one of the nine children brought together when Van Blargan and Yates’ mother, Shawna Machlinski, got married. He was one of four siblings to join the military, and did so at 17.

The grief is apparent on Yates’ MySpace page.

“As you know tim carried you to the plane today…he said that he was so sadend …he said that he couldnt be strong enough and not cry…he says as he was carring (sic) you he cried so hard tears was rolling down his face hitting the flag…your going to be missed by all …,” reads one comment by a woman named Angie.

“Mikey please answer this,” a 17-year-old named Dara writes. “We need you Mikey.”

Lt. Col. Eric Stetson, the 172nd Rear Detachment commander, said Wednesday that the news of the deaths of Yates and Bueno-Galdos came as a shock to the unit’s soldiers.

“We normally don’t have a lot of soldiers at all in Baghdad. We only had these two soldiers at the combat stress center and it is just tragic that it happened in that way.

“The loss of any soldier is a tragedy but you just don’t expect it to happen this way,” he said.

The brigade will approach the loss of the men the same way it would handle combat casualties, Stetson said.

“They have fallen on the battlefield. The exact nature of how they have fallen doesn’t really matter. These soldiers died doing their duty, deployed, away from home and serving their nation.

“They will be handled the same way as other soldiers [who die in combat]. We owe that to them,” he said.

Memorial services for the soldiers will be held in Iraq on Saturday, he said.

Bueno-Galdos had a reputation as a “hard-charging” noncommissioned officer who took the initiative.

“He was a key player helping the brigade move to Grafenwöhr,” Stetson added.

Springle was better known as “Keith.”

The 52-year-old was based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., and did a lot of work with reservists who need help and “don’t return to Bragg,” according to Robert Goodale, who worked with Springle at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill’s Citizen-Soldier Support Program.

Goodale said in a phone interview Wednesday that he met Springle last year and they worked together trying to bridge the gap between civilian and military mental health care.

Springle helped develop a daylong course that helped North Carolina medical providers better deal with mental health issues in returning troops, Goodale said.

“This was something he did because he knew it was important work,” Goodale said of his friend. “It’s also very difficult work.”

Springle was married and had two sons, including one who had just returned from an Iraq deployment last fall, Goodale said.

“He was a joy to be around,” Goodale said. “He was fun, upbeat. He answered all questions candidly and had a lot of experience.

“I was looking forward to seeing him in the fall.”

Matthew Houseal was an Army reservist who called Amarillo, Texas, home, according to a report in the Amarillo Globe-News.

The 54-year-old psychiatrist worked at the Texas Panhandle Mental Health and Mental Retardation since 1997, spokesman Jim Womack said.

“He would spend however long it took with somebody to assess them,” Womack said. “He was completely dedicated to his patients.”

Potter County Judge Arthur Ware knew Houseal through mental health patient referrals.

“He was a very fine doctor that was always doing everything he could to help those who had a mental disorder,” Ware said in the Globe-News report. “I’ve heard nothing but praise of him.

“Somebody ended not only his life but ends that ability for him to help the people that help others with mental disorders.”

Another who, like Yates, sought help at the center was Barton, whose mother recently died, according to Capt. Mary Aaron, a spokeswoman for the 416th Theater Engineer Command, out of Darien, Ill. A memorial service will be held Thursday in Iraq.

Barton was attached to the 277th Engineer Company, 420th Engineer Brigade, but his actual assigned company was the 955th Engineer Company out of Missouri. A construction equipment mechanic, he leaves a grandmother and sister.

Barton was a construction equipment repairer and worked in the company’s maintenance platoon, officials said. He enjoyed computer games and chatting online with his sister.

“A man’s character is defined by his actions, and Pfc. Jacob Barton, although a young man, is a man we should look to as an example for ourselves and our children ... We are shocked and saddened by his loss, and ask all of you to keep Jacob’s grandmother and sister in your thoughts and prayers,” 46th Engineer Battalion Commander Lt. Col. Matthew Zajac said in a statement released from Baghdad.

“Pfc. Barton was never disrespectful. He totally matured during the time he was with us,” said Sgt. Piotr Szczepaniak, Barton’s team leader. “You could never get angry with this guy. He was just a real good guy. I hope he’s in a better place.”

Margie Antal-Green, a guidance counselor at Barton’s elementary school in Salem, Mo., remembers him well. She tutored him twice a week and still drives past his house in Lenox every day on her way to work.

“I remember Jacob when he was in third, fourth, fifth, sixth. ... He was an extremely intelligent young person. Oh yeah, he was an extremely bright little stinker. He was a little stinker!” she said, laughing.

“He was really a smart little boy and could probably talk himself out of any situation. The people who knew him are very sad. We were really shocked.”

Although Yates was at the center for counseling, his last MySpace update — a day before he died — indicated his hopes for life outside of Liberty and Iraq, and underlines the abruptness with which the deaths occurred.

In his last message, Yates “just had a great conversation with the girl of my dreams,” the page reads. “Baby you mean so much to me i miss you and cant wait to come home to you.”

Stars and Stripes reporters Seth Robson and Kevin Baron contributed to this story.

Photo of Matthew Houseal not available.