Army Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Venetz Jr.

Died January 28, 2011 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

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30, of Wading River, N.Y.; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Bragg, N.C.; died Jan. 28 at Camp Montrond in Parwan province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained in a non-combat-related incident.

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‘His life revolved around his children and his wife’

The Associated Press

Whether he was home or thousands of miles away serving in Afghanistan, Anthony Venetz tried to read a book to his children at night whenever he could.

His father, Anthony Venetz Sr., said the soldier would go online to read to Jace, 3, and Alexa, 7.

“His life revolved around his children and his wife,” his father told The Fayetteville Observer. “Pretty much all of the things that his children were involved with, he was involved with when he was home. The rest of the time was being a soldier.”

Venetz Jr., 30, died in a noncombat incident Jan. 28 in Parwan province, Afghanistan. The military is investigating his death. He was assigned to Fort Bragg, N.C.

His father said the soldier had been wounded on his third deployment to Afghanistan — in one incident, he was shot in the leg; in another, he got a concussion when Humvee he was riding in hit a roadside bomb.

Venetz Jr. grew up in the hamlet of Wading River on New York’s Long Island. He graduated from Shoreham-Wading River High School, where he excelled at soccer, his father said. He briefly attended college but decided the military offered him more opportunities.