Trojan's Wall of Hero's


Ronald J. Tucker

Headquarters Company

1-22 Infantry 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized)

KIA April 30, 2008

 
 
 
Army Spc. Ronald J. Tucker remembered

The Associated Press

 

Ronald J. Tucker stood out in high school for the right reasons, including his sense of humor.

 

“If there was a good practical joke to be played, you could count on Ronnie having that grin on his face,” said Mitch Johnson, an administrator who had known Tucker since he was a first-grader.

 

Tucker, 21, of Fountain, Colo., was killed April 30 in Baghdad, when his vehicle struck an explosive. He was on his way back to base after his unit helped build a soccer field for Iraqi children. Tucker spent his days tinkering with cars, driving like a NASCAR racer, rooting for the Broncos and spending time with friends and family who basked in his happy-go-lucky attitude.

 

“We never stopped laughing, and that was the greatest thing about Ronnie,” said friend and classmate Eric Iuso. He was a 2005 high school graduate and was assigned to Fort Hood. He is survived by his mother, Susan Arnold and stepfather, David Arnold.

 

His Junior ROTC instructor tried to talk Tucker out of enlisting. But the teenager was not swayed. “I told him to go to college and get an education,” 1st Sgt. Leroy Bogan said. “He was a highly motivated kid.”

 

Legacy Guest Book: http://www.legacy.com/gb2/default.aspx?bookid=108910672

 

Memorial Dedication: http://1-22infantry.org/kia/tuckerpers.htm 

 

 

 

 


 

Ronald J. Tucker

Headquarters Company

1-22 Infantry 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized)

KIA April 30, 2008

 

Friday, May 02 2008 @ 04:52 PM EDT

Colorado Springs Gazette --A 21-year-old soldier from Fountain died in a Baghdad bombing, the Army announced today. Spc. Ronald J. Tucker was on patrol with his unit from Fort Hood, Texas, on Wednesday when the vehicle he was riding in was hit by a roadside bomb. Another soldier in the vehicle, Capt. Andrew R. Pearson, 32, of Billings, Mont., also died in the bombing, the Army said. Both men were assigned to the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, which started operations in Iraq last month. Tucker, a 2005 graduate of Fountain-Fort Carson High School, joined the Army in 2005 and was trained to be a mortarman.

He was assigned to Fort Hood in August 2006 and went to the Middle East earlier this year. "Ronnie had a passion to be successful," said Fountain-Fort Carson dean of students Mitch Johnson, who had known Tucker since he was a first-grader. "He was a hard-working student." Johnson said Tucker was the kind of kid most school administrators don't notice, because he worked so hard and kept his nose clean. But Ronnie stood out for the right reasons, including his sense of humor. "If there was a good practical joke to be played, you could count on Ronnie having that grin on his face," Johnson said. Johnson said it was no surprise that Tucker joined the Army after high school. "He was a young man who had been around the military influence here the whole time he was in school."

Tucker is the third Fountain-Fort Carson graduate to die in Iraq.

 

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Ronnie Tucker is standing, rear row, far left,

in this photo taken in Baghdad.

 

SPC Ronald Tucker, standing, left.

 

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OFFICE OF GOV. BILL RITTER, JR.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

THURSDAY, MAY 8, 2008

 Gov. Ritter has ordered U.S. and Colorado flags lowered to half-staff on state and federal buildings across Colorado, pursuant to H.R. 692, on Monday, May 12, 2008, in observance of a memorial service for Army Specialist Ronald J. Tucker, 21, of Fountain. Specialist Tucker died in Iraq on April 30 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

 

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SPC Ronnie Tucker

 

It is with a heavy heart that I write about the life of SPC Ronald J. Tucker for the brief period I was privileged enough to have known him. I first met SPC Tucker while I was on rear detachment during the unit's last rotation in Iraq. He had, unfortunately, been shot in the eye with a paintball gun, and I had to help out with some of the paperwork for that incident. When the unit redeployed, I was assigned as the Mortar platoon leader, and SPC Tucker was now one of my Soldiers. I truly feel privileged to have known him and to have been able to watch him grow and develop as a Soldier. SPC Tucker had a unique sense of humor about him. He had the uncanny ability to make light of any situation. Sometimes I would see him being disciplined by his NCOs for some mistake he made, with sweat pouring down his face; he would still bear that goofy Ronnie Tucker grin on his face. That was just SPC Tucker's personality.

 

SPC Tucker was the driver and radio-telephone operator for our Fire Direction Center vehicle. This was the only vehicle to come back from Iraq with the platoon after the last deployment. This was also the worst tracked vehicle in our platoon's inventory. Being the driver for this track, and responsible for the bulk of the maintenance on this vehicle, SPC Tucker had his work cut out for him. He spent countless long hours working on his vehicle to get it fully mission capable. I told him that this vehicle must be completely ready to go by the time we go to the National Training Center in California. He often came to me seeking different Technical Manuals for different parts of the vehicle, but sure enough, he had it fully mission capable for NTC. During these times, though, he would sit down and talk to me about life.

 

SPC Tucker often confided in me and would ask me questions about my life in general. I remember him talking about his girlfriend with me. He would ask me things about relationships and I would usually make some joke that I'm definitely not the person to be asking about advice on relationships but I thought of something that a great family man, Captain Andrew R. Pearson once told me. Captain Pearson and I would often debate the single life versus married life. I would always ask him, "How do you know when you are with the right one?" Captain Pearson told me,"Matt, when you know, you just know, and you'll know, believe me you will know." So I passed those words of wisdom on to SPC Tucker, and from the things we've talked about here, I think that SPC Tucker knew.

 

SPC Tucker always looked for ways to improve. He would come up to me several times a week asking what he could do more. Last week he came up to me to get the Technical Manual printed off for the generator on his vehicle to fix the fuel line on it. We talked more about life, relationships, and careers, both of our futures. There is no doubt in my mind that SPC Tucker would have excelled in the Army, or in anything that he chose to do in life, because he was doing so right in front of my eyes. On the afternoon of the 30th of April 2008 the world lost two of its finest young men. These men will not be forgotten. Their contributions, to the people that loved them, and even to people that did not know them, will not be forgotten.

 

There is an Old Norse proverb in a book I just finished reading that states, "Animals die, friends die, and I shall die, but one thing never dies, and that is the reputation we leave behind at our death." The reputations each of these men left behind are both unquestionably solid. It is now our duty to remember Specialist Ronald Tucker and Captain Andrew Pearson for their greatness in life and to honor their sacrifice for our freedom.

 

- 1LT Mathew Thompson

4th ID Logo

 Regulars by God, Deeds Not Words.

 

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Graphic Separator 

Ian Patrick Weikel

 

Captain, United States Army

Colorado State Flag

NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense

No. 334-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 19, 2006

Media Contact: Army Public Affairs - (703) 692-2000 Public/Industry(703)428-0711

DoD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Captain Ian P. Weikel, 31, of Colorado, died in Balad, Iraq on April 18, 2006, from injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV during combat operations in Baghdad.  Weikel was assigned to the 10th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.

For further information related to this release, contact Army Public Affairs at (703) 692-2000.


 

IP Weikel PHOTO

Courtesy of the United States Military Academy

A former class president, star football and basketball player at Fountain-Fort Carson High School who attended West Point died after his vehicle was struck by a roadside explosive in Baghdad.

 

Captain Ian P. Weikel, 31, was assigned to the 10th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, based at Fort Hood, Texas. He died Tuesday in Balad, which is about 42 miles north of Baghdad, the military said. Weikel, of Colorado Springs was profiled in 1993 after being picked by The Gazette as one of the "Best and Brighest" teenagers.

 

While in high school -- where he organized food drives and worked to get students to take a drug free pledge before they could buy prom tickets -- Weikel dreamed of being an Air Force pilot. He graduated with a 3.94 grade-point-average and went on to attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York.

 

"My life is regimented, and the challenges are hard. Anything worth having is, though," he told the newspaper shortly after graduating.


 

April 20, 2006:

Sorrow spread through the Fountain-Fort Carson community Wednesday as friends and family learned of the death in Iraq of Captain Ian P. Weikel, whose friends described him as a natural leader and problem-solver who led by example. 

 

Weikel, 31, died in Balad, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near the U.S. Army Humvee he was riding in during combat operations, the Department of Defense said. 

 

A graduate of West Point, Weikel was assigned to the 10th Cavalry Regiment, the 1st Brigade Combat Team in the 4th Infantry Division based out of Fort Hood, Texas.

 

To his teachers and coaches at Fountain-Fort Carson High School, he was a bright and energetic young man who stood out from the moment they met him. "Ian was a very special young man," said Mitch Johnson, who coached Weikel and his brother, Chad, on the varsity football team. "You could tell that from the moment he walked through the door as a bright-eyed freshman," Johnson said. Ian Weikel was the team quarterback and president of the student government in his senior year.

 

Michael Maiurro, a teacher at the high school, said Weikel "was the kind of kid who was always part of the solution." Weikel married a fellow West Point graduate. He and his wife, Wendy, served overseas together in Europe. She was discharged back to Colorado Springs when they learned she was pregnant with their first child, Jonathan Troy, a boy born in August. Their son's middle name reflected the father's profession. Troy means "foot soldier", Maiurro said.

 

Maiurro last saw his former student when Weikel returned to Colorado Springs for a visit with his family and a chance to be with his wife and newborn son. "He was no longer a student but a peer," Maiurro said. "He and I could talk politics and debate government."

 

Posted: 22 April 2006 Updated: 24 April 2006 Updated: 27 April 2006 Updated: 21 May 2006 Updated: 11 June 2006 Updated: 17 June 2006
Updated: 4 November 2006 Updated: 26 October 2007

 

We will never forget those who chose to serve our nation..."See you at the crossroads!"