Army Staff Sgt. Michael L. Burbank

Died October 11, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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34, of Bremerton, Wash.; assigned to the 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, Fort Lewis, Wash.; killed Oct. 11 when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Stryker military vehicle in Mosul, Iraq.

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Suicide bombing takes life of Washington soldier

Associated Press

BREMERTON, Wash. — Staff Sgt. Michael Burbank, due to return home in two weeks from a deployment to Iraq, has died in a suicide truck bombing in the city of Mosul.

“I’m missing him a lot and I’m incredibly proud,” his 29-year-old wife Shawna said late Tuesday.

The couple had planned trips to Disneyland and British Columbia to celebrate his homecoming, said her father, Brant Culley of Federal Way. “Now, the trips have all been canceled.”

Burbank was a good husband and friend, and loved to hunt, fish and hike, Culley said.

“He never got to be a father,” Culley said, adding, “We’re just numb.”

Burbank, 34, died Monday when a suicide bomber detonated a pickup truck full of explosives near his Stryker vehicle. Nine others were wounded in the explosion, at least three of them seriously, the Army said.

Burbank was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, a unit of the Fort Lewis-based 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. The Stryker brigade deployed to Iraq almost a year ago. About 130 of its soldiers returned to Fort Lewis last week and the rest are due back in November.

Before they come home, they must train their replacements: the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, another Fort Lewis-based Stryker unit.

That’s what Burbank was doing, The News-Tribune of Tacoma reported, citing the Army Times.

Personnel from the two brigades were conducting a joint mission to raid houses that insurgents had been using to launch remote-controlled roadside bomb attacks.

Around midday, a pickup drove into the path of their convoy and exploded. Insurgents then attacked with small arms, according to Task Force Tacoma, the Fort Lewis-based Army command in northern Iraq.

Burbank, who joined the Army in 1997, planned to make a career of it, Culley said.

“He was a true professional soldier. He was so gung-ho,” he said, his voice breaking. “He used to say, ‘We’re not called to wonder why. Ours is but to do or die.”’