A memorial service for Command Sgt. Maj. Steven Faulkenburg, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment, will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Vilseck Chapel on Rose Barracks.

Faulkenburg, 45, died Tuesday in Fallujah, Iraq, when he came under small-arms fire while conducting combat operations, according to news reports.

Faulkenburg, of Huntingburg, Ind., was active in the Vilseck community, where friends and family members were grieving, said Maj. Brian Maddox, executive officer for the 3rd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division’s rear detachment.

The detachment has provided mental health counselors to help community members deal with his death. Three counselors were available to talk to people at a Family Readiness Group meeting held after the community learned of Faulkenburg had died.

“People obviously were shocked,” Maddox said. “I had to make a lot of phone calls. There was a lot of sadness.”

The community also is rallying around Faulkenburg’s family, he said.

Officials at Vilseck High School, where Faulkenburg’s daughters attend, activated its crisis management team to help students cope with the loss.

“They let the teachers know and then sent down counselors to talk to the students. It was done tastefully and professionally,” Maddox said.

Maddox didn’t have details about the battle in which Faulkenburg died. However, he said he wasn’t surprised that the battalion’s highest-ranking NCO was with his soldiers in the heat of battle.

“I knew he was a very active sergeant major,” Maddox said. “He was always out there checking on his soldiers, talking to them and taking care of them.”

Faulkenburg is survived by his wife, Tonya, and daughters April, Jenna Clifton and Katherine Clifton.

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