Army Sgt. 1st Class Gregory A. Rodriguez

Died September 2, 2008 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

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35, of Weidman, Mich.; assigned to the K-9 unit of the 527th Military Police Company, 709th Military Police Battalion, 18th MP Brigade, Ansbach, Germany; died Sept. 2 of wounds sustained in Ana Kalay, Afghanistan, when his mounted patrol came under small arms fire.

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Soldier from Weidman to be buried at Arlington

The Associated Press

WEIDMAN, Mich. — The widow of a soldier from Michigan killed in Afghanistan says he will be buried next week at Arlington National Cemetery.

Army Sgt. 1st Class Gregory A. Rodriguez, 35, died Tuesday of wounds suffered in Ana Kalay, Afghanistan, when his mounted patrol came under small-arms fire. He was a native of Weidman, about 50 miles north of Lansing in Isabella County.

“I asked Greg if anything ever happened to him where he’d prefer to be buried,” his wife Laura Rodriguez told the Morning Sun of Mount Pleasant, “and he told me Arlington, as he wanted to be among the best and the brave.”

Rodriguez, an avid Detroit Red Wings fan, graduated from Mount Pleasant High School in 1991 and joined the Army Reserve about three years later. He liked the military life and became an active-duty soldier in 1996, his wife said.

Survivors include Laura, their three young children and his mother, Virginia Richardson of Lake Isabella.

The family now lives at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, site of the military’s working-dog programs. Rodriguez was assigned to the K-9 unit of the 527th Military Police Company, 709th Military Police Battalion, 18th MP Brigade, Ansbach, Germany.

His dog Jacko survived the ambush and Laura Rodriguez said she hoped the dog could come live with the family. “He was Greg’s best companion for the past couple of years,” she said.

Services for Rodriguez are planned in San Antonio and Mount Pleasant but have not been scheduled.

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Army Sgt. 1st Class Gregory A. Rodriguez

The Associated Press

Gregory A. Rodriguez was a former football player and wrestler who sought to keep order both before joining the Army and while he was in it, said his sister.

“My brother liked to be the law,” said Lisa Dombrowski. “He liked justice. If it wasn’t right, he made it right.”

Rodriguez, 35, died Sept. 2 of wounds suffered in Ana Kalay when his mounted patrol came under small-arms fire. He was a 1991 high school graduate and was assigned to Ansbach, Germany.

“Rod,” as he was known to his Army buddies, was a Red Wings fan who loved to hassle fans of other hockey teams he met during his military career, said his wife, Laura Rodriguez.

“Greg loved to push everyone’s buttons and get people going with his rare, unique sense of sarcasm,” she said. At the same time, her husband, a military police dog handler whose dog, Jacko, survived the fatal ambush, was “a very committed, loyal individual and could be counted on whenever needed.”

He had been stationed in Hawaii, Missouri, Alaska and Texas.

Rodriguez also is survived by three children: 8-year-old Gregory Jr., 7-year old Zachary and 3-year-old Malory.