Army Spc. Robert R. Arsiaga

Died April 4, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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25, of Midland, Texas; assigned to 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; killed April 4 when his unit was attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire in Baghdad.

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After Robert Arsiaga graduated from high school in 1998, he studied drafting, with plans to design a new home for his mother. Then he joined the Army and decided to make it a career. But he changed his mind again after he met his future wife, deciding he wanted a family life away from the military. He had planned to leave in August, but the date was pushed back after he was sent to Iraq, said his wife of five months, Tracie Arsiaga. Spc. Arsiaga, 25, who lived in Greenwood, Texas, and was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, was killed April 4 when his convoy was attacked in the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City. “I believe I should have had more time with him,” his wife said. Angel Munoz, Arsiaga’s older sister who has served in the Army, said Arsiaga was passionate about helping the Iraqi people. “The soldier in me says, ‘That was his job,’ ” Munoz said. “And he did his job well. The sister in me is angry at losing him. I don’t understand why he had to die.”

— Associated Press