Army Staff Sgt. Jose C. Rangel

Died January 23, 2005 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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43, of Saratoga, Calif.; assigned to the 1106th Aviation Classification Repair Activity Depot, California Army National Guard, Fresno, Calif.; died Jan. 23 of non-combat-related injuries in Camp Arifjan, Kuwait.

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Father of three dies during Kuwait training drill

Associated Press

FRESNO, Calif. — A Fresno man with the city’s Army Reserve depot died in Kuwait during a training drill Sunday, the Army confirmed Tuesday.

Jose Carlos Rangel, 43, was assigned to the 1106th Aviation Classification Repair Activity Depot in Fresno, where he worked full-time overseeing the tool room.

He was running as part of a training drill Sunday when he collapsed, said his wife, Noemi Rangel.

Rangel was taken to the base hospital at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, where he died.

Born in Mexico, Rangel was the youngest of 10 children. His family moved to Stockton when he was 13.

At 19, he joined the Marine Corps after earning dual citizenship.

The father of three young boys was deployed to Kuwait in December after returning from Fort Lewis, Wash., in October and spending six weeks in Fresno with his family.

Members of his unit were placed on the front lines in Baghdad soon after they arrived, but Rangel had not been sent to the war zone. His job was in a hazardous materials unit.

In three years, he would have had 20 years of military service and qualified for a retirement pension.

“He said he wanted to buy a place in Ensenada and retire there,” Noemi Rangel said.