Army Spc. Rasheed Sahib

Died May 18, 2003 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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22, of Brooklyn, N.Y.; assigned to 20th Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; killed by an accidental weapons discharge in Balad, Iraq.

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Spc. Rasheed Sahib, 22, of New York City, was remembered by family and friends as a big-hearted guy who was hoping the military would be a stepping stone to a better life in America.

He was killed in Iraq May 18 when another soldier’s gun discharged while he was cleaning it and the bullet struck him in the chest.

Sahib’s family came to the United States from Guyana in 1988, and his sister Nafeeza, 18, said he dreamed of going to college and becoming an FBI agent. “He did it (join the military) so it could help him more in life,” she said. “He really wanted the training.”

Sahib, who was nicknamed Smiley by his younger cousins and friends, joined the military nearly three years ago. His relatives and friends said they had not heard from him since he called in late March to let them know he was being deployed to the Middle East. They said he was scared of what lay ahead of him.

“He called me before he left and he told me how he was scared,” said Amitt Permaul, 18, Sahib’s best friend. “I was just asking his sister the other day, ‘When is he coming back, when is he coming back?’ ” Sahib, a U.S. resident, expected to become a citizen following his return from overseas.

— Associated Press