Army Staff Sgt. Eric S. Trueblood

Died March 10, 2011 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

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27, of Alameda, Calif.; assigned to 391st Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 16th Sustainment Brigade, Spinelli Barracks, Mannheim, Germany; died March 10 in Arghandab Valley, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device.

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Soldier remembered as honest, ‘a good guy’

The Associated Press

An eight-year Army veteran, Eric Trueblood was known as an honest soldier who used humor and encouragement to remain positive.

Friends said in a Stars and Stripes newspaper report that he was a skilled bomb technician and had been a trusted mentor.

“He was a good guy, one of a kind, first class,” said Spc. Graham Burnsed of the 515th Transportation Company in Mannheim, Germany.

Trueblood, 27, of Alameda, Calif., died March 10 after his unit was attacked Kandahar province, Afghanistan. He was based in Mannheim and on his second tour in Afghanistan.

An obituary for him published in the Laramie (Wyo.) Boomerang said he was born in Gillete, and he and his family lived in the state until he was 5. They then moved to Alameda, Calif., where Trueblood attended St. Joseph School.

He enlisted in the Army in March 2003 and eventually became a bomb technician.

“Eric was always there when you needed someone,” said Spc. Kyle Holly. “He was a person of action.”

Trueblood’s survivors include his mother, Linda Trueblood, of Mountain View, Calif.; father, Donald Trueblood, of Walnut Creek, Calif.; and sister, Nena Trueblood.