Army Staff Sgt. Daniel Bader

Died November 2, 2003 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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28, of York, Neb.; assigned to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Tiger Squadron, Fort Carson, Colo.; killed Nov. 2 in an attack on a CH-47 Chinook helicopter near Fallujah, Iraq.

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Crash victim leaves wife, daughter behind

Associated Press

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Tiffany Bader says she wonders what she and her little girl will do.

Her husband, Staff Sgt. Daniel Bader, died in the crash of a Chinook helicopter in Iraq on Nov. 2.

“I’m in shock,” she said Monday. “It hasn’t hit me yet, that I’m not going to have a husband. That I’m a widow at 30. That my little girl is going to be raised without a father.”

But she said her husband had wanted to be in the military.

He joined the National Guard shortly after graduating from high school, going through basic training when he was 17 and joining the Army when he was 18.

“He loved it, absolutely loved the military,” his wife said.

He left with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment for Iraq on April 4.

“He was excited,” Tiffany Bader said. “He wanted to serve his country. I was terrified.”

She also called for an end to the fighting.

“I could tell you I didn’t agree with the war, but I did,” she said. “I could tell you I hate President Bush, but I don’t. But I think they need to start doing something to stop this.”