Army Staff Sgt. Christopher Moore

Died May 19, 2007 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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28, of Alpaugh, Calif.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; died May 19 in Baghdad of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Also killed were Sgt. Jean P. Medlin, Spc. David W. Behrle, Spc. Joseph A. Gilmore, Pfc. Travis F. Haslip and Pfc. Alexander R. Varela.

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Soldier joined military to get out of small Calif. town

By The Associated Press

ALPAUGH, Calif. — The day after he graduated from high school in 1996, Christopher Moore joined the Army.

He wanted to get out of this small town north of Bakersfield and figured the best way was by entering the military.

Moore 28, was killed in Baghdad with five other soldiers on May 19 when a roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle while on patrol. Moore, a staff sergeant, was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas.

On Tuesday, Moore was buried next to his best friend, Dustin Mills, from the Army at a cemetery in Kennedale, Texas. Mills was killed in a car crash in 1997.

“He always wanted to serve his country,” said his mother, Martha. “He died doing the job he loved to do.”

Moore served three tours in the Middle East after completing basic training at Fort Benning in Georgia. He was first assigned to the 101st Airborne Division where he earned his air assault badge. Moore was then deployed to Kuwait where he guarded Patriot missile sites.

After coming home, he was assigned to Fort Benning and was later stationed with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C.

Moore left the military for a short time, but returned and re-enlisted. He was sent on his first tour of Iraq in April 2004. He did a second tour this past October — this time as a commander of a Bradley fighting vehicle.

Moore’s ex-wife, Kindell Mills, said the two met because her brother — Moore’s best friend — had become close during basic training. The couple had three daughters, Ashlyn, 9; Kalyn, 7; and Taylor, 4.

“Chris was my best friend,” she said. “And there is not another person in this world that could come close to the type of father he was to my children.”

Family and friends said Moore spent his last weekend in the United States taking visiting family members to an amusement park and volunteering to help paint the home of an elderly woman he never met. He later played paintball.

In addition to his ex-wife, daughters and mother, Moore is survived by a brother, Robert; two sisters, Misty Collins and Nancy Ince; his grandparents; and numerous other relatives.