Army Pfc. Kenny D. Rojas

Died October 29, 2005 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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21, of Pembroke Pines, Fla.; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga.; killed Oct. 29 when his unit was conducting a combat patrol and a landmine exploded near his Humvee near Bayji, Iraq.

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Florida soldier killed on weekend patrol in Iraq

The Associated Press

PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. — Kenny Rojas’ mother wanted him to go to college instead of following his father and older brother into the military.

But when a scholarship to a vocational school fell through, Rojas enlisted.

“He said it would be a way to get his life together,” said his fiancee, Gretel Mink of Pembroke Pines.

Pfc. Kenny D. Rojas, 21, of Pembroke Pines, was killed Oct. 29 on combat patrol near Bayji when a land mine exploded near his Humvee, the Defense Department announced Nov. 1. Bayji is about 150 miles northwest of Baghdad.

Rojas was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, based at Fort Stewart, Ga.

Rojas’ father served in the Army and his 31-year-old brother, Steve, is serving in Iraq in the Navy. He enlisted in 2003, two years after graduating from Flanagan High School. He was deployed a year later to Iraq.

The two brothers met at a karaoke bar in Iraq a few weeks before Kenny Rojas’ death, his friends said.

Mink said Rojas was working as a security escort when he was killed.

“He told me, ‘I just don’t want to die in Iraq,’ ” Mink said. The couple were high school sweethearts.