Army Pfc. Ara T. Deysie

Died May 9, 2008 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

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18, of Parker, Ariz.; assigned to the 1st Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky.; died May 9 in Paktia Province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when his unit came under rocket-propelled grenade fire.

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Ariz. soldier with 101st Airborne killed in Afghanistan

By Amanda Lee Myers

The Associated Press

PHOENIX — Ara Tyler Deysie talked about joining the military when he was just 4 years old, his mother said Sunday.

At 18, Deysie became the fourth soldier from the 101st Airborne to be killed in Afghanistan in a week. The Parker, Ariz. teen and member of the Colorado River Indian Tribe was killed Friday in the Paktia Province when his patrol encountered rocket-propelled grenade fire.

Deysie’s mother, Lori Deysie, 40, said her son was a jokester and a handful.

“Once he decided what he wanted to do, he made sure he got his way and got to do it, and that was to go into the military,” she told The Associated Press on Mother’s Day from her home in Parker, 130 miles west of Phoenix on the Arizona-California line.

Deysie said she signed up Tyler, or T-Man as he was known at home, for the Army in February after he continually pestered her about it.

“Since he signed up for the military, I’ve just been sick,” she said. “But he did get to do what he wanted to do in his life.”

She said she last spoke to Tyler last Sunday, and had to cut him short because she was at work, and last received a message from him on Tuesday.

In that message, she said Tyler said “it wasn’t bothering him anymore” and that he had found peace.

She said she had just put Tyler’s dog to sleep on May 1 and doesn’t know whether he was writing about that or possibly his mission in Afghanistan. “But he had found peace, and that’s all I know,” she said.

Tyler is survived by his mother, four sisters, and six nieces and nephews. Tyler’s father died of accidental causes nearly six years ago.

Arrangements for Tyler’s funeral had not been made Sunday. Deysie said her son’s body was in Dover, Del. and was to be returned to Arizona.

Messages from friends and family were posted on Tyler’s MySpace.com page, where he had posted dozens of pictures of himself in uniform and with guns. Tyler described himself in just one sentence on his profile: “It was like watching a dream but before I knew it the dream was over.”

Deysie was a member of the 101st Airborne Division’s Fourth Brigade Combat Team, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 1st Squadron at Fort Campbell, an Army post on the Kentucky-Tennessee line.

Two other soldiers from the Fourth Brigade, Spc. Jeremy R. Gullett, 22, of Greenup, Ky., and Staff Sgt. Kevin C. Roberts, 25, of Farmington, N.M., died in a bombing Wednesday in Afghanistan’s Sabari District.

Another soldier, Sgt. Isaac Palomarez, 26, of Loveland, Colo., was killed Friday in the Kapisa Province.

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Funeral set for soldier from Parker killed in Afghanistan

The Associated Press

PARKER, Ariz. — Funeral services for a soldier from the Colorado River Indian Tribe who was killed in Afghanistan are set for May 18 and 19 in Parker.

A religious service for Pfc. Ara Tyler Deysie will be held in the town’s Mormon church in the afternoon on May 18. His casket will then be taken through town on a fire truck to the Cry House next to the tribal cemetery.

After being placed inside the Cry House in an elaborate ceremony, military guards will stand guard through the night, and American Indian and military ceremonies and his burial will be held in the morning on May 19.

The 18-year-old was a member of the 101st Airborne Division. He died May 9 in Afghanistan’s Paktia Province when his patrol was attacked with rocket-propelled grenades.

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Army Pfc. Ara T. Deysie remembered

The Associated Press

Ara T. Deysie talked about joining the military when he was just 4 years old, his mother said.

“Once he decided what he wanted to do, he made sure he got his way and got to do it, and that was to go into the military,” said Lori Deysie.

Deysie, 18, of Parker, Ariz., died May 9 in Paktia province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained from an explosive. He was a member of the Colorado River Indian Tribes and was assigned to Fort Campbell, Ky.

Known as Tyler or T-Man, he was described as a quiet young man who was the diplomat in the household and who tried to keep peace with his four sisters. By age 14, he knew he wanted to volunteer for the military.

“Tyler loved his family with all his heart and would talk about them all the time,” said his former girlfriend, Jasmine Delgado.

Delgado said even though they split up as a couple several years ago, they stayed close friends, and he leaned on her through the death of his father several years ago.

“I just remember his smile and the way he used to laugh at me,” Delgado said. “I just want my love to be shared with everyone else that knew Tyler and loved him as much as I did and still do.”