Army Staff Sgt. Patrick F. Kutschbach

Died November 10, 2007 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

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25, of McKees Rocks, Pa.; assigned to 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group, Stuttgart, Germany; died Nov. 10 in Bagram, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained in Tagab, Afghanistan, when his vehicle was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade and small-arms fire.

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Western Pa. soldier dies after Afghanistan attack

The Associated Press

PITTSBURGH — A western Pennsylvania soldier died Nov. 10 in Afghanistan from wounds sustained when his vehicle was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade and small-arms fire in Tagab, the Defense Department said.

Staff Sgt. Patrick F. Kutschbach, 25, of McKees Rocks, died in Bagram. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group, at Stuttgart, Germany.

“He was the type of person who could make a joke out of anything,” said friend Tim Dorish, 25, of McKees Rocks.

“You could be in the worst situation in the world and Pat would find a way to make you laugh,” Dorish told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Kutschbach was a 2000 graduate of Montour High School, where he was an all-state volleyball player during his senior year. He won several championships and coached the team for three years after graduating, said Superintendent Patrick Dworakowski.

“Patrick will be missed by many members of the Montour school community, and we thank him for serving our country,” Dworakowski said.

Dorish remembered when Kutschbach came to his house one day in 2003 and said, “I did something crazy today. I joined the Army.”

Kutschbach enlisted in the Army in October 2003 as a Special Forces candidate and earned his Green Beret the next year, according to a biography from the Army Special Forces Command.