Army Spc. Geoffrey A. Whitsitt

Died January 13, 2010 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

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21, of Taylors, S.C.; assigned to the 118th Military Police Company (Airborne), 503rd Military Police Battalion (Airborne), 16th Military Police Brigade (Airborne), Fort Bragg, N.C.; died Jan. 13 at Combat Outpost McClain, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. Also killed was Staff Sgt. Daniel D. Merriweather.

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‘He will inspire a lot of people’

The Associated Press

Geoffrey Whitsitt was a country boy who loved running through the woods and fields near his rural South Carolina home as a child, dreaming of the day he’d finally be a soldier.

“He was my fishing buddy and my friend,” said Whitsitt’s father, Steve. He and his wife, Debbie, said their son never wavered from his dream of becoming a Ranger.

“He had a warrior spirit,” his mother said.

Whitsitt, 21, of Taylors, S.C., was killed by a roadside bomb Jan. 13 in Afghanistan. He was assigned to Fort Bragg, N.C.

He was home-schooled until 10th grade, then attended Greenville Tech Charter High School. He graduated in 2007. Whitsitt’s brother, Steven, is a sailor stationed in the Persian Gulf.

The Whitsitts remembered their son as a young man who was living his dream, but also as a man of faith who was trying to live a life that was “pleasing to God,” Steven Whitsitt said.

“He was rough, he was the little guy, and he was the little guy with a big attitude some of the time,” the soldier’s father said. “But he had a compassionate heart.

Steven Whitsitt said his son will be missed by many — “but he will inspire a lot of people also.”