Army Pfc. Robert J. Near

Died January 7, 2011 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

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21, of Nampa, Idaho; assigned to the 86th Signal Battalion, Fort Huachuca, Ariz.; died Jan. 7 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, while supporting combat operations.

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‘He had fun all the way to the very end’

The Associated Press

Those who knew Robert Near, from his grandmother to his Army commanders, remember him as happy.

“You couldn’t make him mad,” Vera Near, 72, said of her grandson. “Never in his life did he sass me.”

Near, 21, of Nampa, Idaho, died Jan. 7 in Kandahar, Afghanistan. He was assigned to Fort Huachuca, Ariz.

The Yakima (Wash.) Herald reports that he was born in Woodland, Calif., and that he and his father moved to Granger, Wash.

They lived with his grandmother, who would play video games with him. He would pull the weeds for her in her yard.

His father said he grew up with a healthy curiosity, penchant for chess and positive attitude.

“He had fun all the way to the very end,” Dale Near said.

Near graduated from Granger High School in 2007.

The following year, according to the Yakima newspaper, he moved to Nampa and studied computer programming and repair at the Centennial Job Corps. He joined the Army in March 2009 and deployed to Afghanistan last year.

His survivors include his father; a brother, Kyle Scott of California, and three sisters, Jennifer Amen, Teddy Scott and Arial Scott, all of California.