Army Staff Sgt. Amy C. Tirador

Died November 4, 2009 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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29, of Albany, N.Y.; assigned to the 209th Military Intelligence Company, 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.; died Nov. 4 in FOB Caldwell, Iraq, of injuries sustained from a non-combat-related incident.

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Played lacrosse in high school

The Associated Press

Amy Tirador had many interests and was passionate about them all.

She was an accomplished trumpeter who played “Taps” at funerals of relatives who served in World War II. She was a lacrosse player who helped start the girls’ lacrosse program during her junior year of high school. And she was an Army medic credited with saving the life of a soldier during a convoy attack in Iraq.

“She was incredibly dedicated, and leaving work unfinished didn’t seem to be part of her genetic makeup,” Aimee Ruscio, a soldier who served with Tirador in Iraq, wrote in an Internet posting.

Tirador, 29, of Albany, N.Y., died Nov. 4 in Kirkush, Iraq. The Army is investigating her death, which it says was a noncombat incident. Her family has said Tirador was shot in the back of the head, and that it was not an accident or a suicide.

The 1998 graduate of South Colonie Central High School was an Arabic-speaking interrogator and interpreter. Tirador was assigned to Fort Lewis.

Survivors include her husband, Mickey Tirador, and her parents, Colleen Murphy and Gerard Seyboth.

“She loved her country, cherished her family, was devoted to and loved her husband dearly,” cousin Cheryl Seyboth Shepard wrote in an online message board.