Army Sgt. Tyler A. Juden

Died September 12, 2009 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

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23, of Winfield, Kan.; assigned to the 4th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.; died Sept. 12 in Turan, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit using rocket-propelled grenade and small-arms fires.

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State to honor soldiers by lowering flags

The Associated Press

TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas Gov. Mark Parkinson has ordered flags to be flown at half-staff for two days to honor two soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

The lowered flags will honor Cpl. Daniel Cox of Parson on Sept. 21 and Sgt. Tyler Juden of Winfield on Sept. 22. Both men were 23 when they died Sept. 12 in separate attacks.

Cox was killed in Wardak province when his unit came under attack from a roadside bomb and small arms fire.

Juden was killed when enemy forces attacked his unit with rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire near Turan.

Parkinson says the thoughts and prayers of the entire state are with the men’s families, friends and communities. He added that their “bravery and sacrifice will never be forgotten.”

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Wanted to follow parents’ path in education

The Associated Press

Tyler A. Juden was never one to take the middle ground.

“He was passionate with his friends, his family and the things he loved,” said his father, Bob Juden. “He loved the things he loved and hated the things he hated.”

Juden, 23, of Winfield, Kan., died Sept. 12 during an attack involving rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire in Turan, Afghanistan.

Juden was known inside and outside the military for his shooting expertise, his family said.

It started with a BB gun he got for Christmas as a boy. By summer, he was shooting bees on the family farm.

He attended a shooting camp in New Mexico when he was 13 and returned the following year as an instructor, his father said. He went on to become a sniper and a squad leader in Afghanistan.

He was also a track athlete and started on the football team as a kicker in his freshman year at Arkansas City High School, where he graduated in 2004. He joined the Army the following year and was assigned to Fort Bragg, N.C.

He was expecting to leave the Army when his enlistment ended in 2010 and planned to be a teacher like his parents.

Juden is also survived by his mother, Reatha, and sister, Jacey.