R.I.P. Spc. Kyle A. Coumas

Name: Army Spc. Kyle A. Coumas

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Age: 22

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From: Lockeford, Calif.,

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Assigned to 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.

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Incident: Army Spc. Kyle A. Coumas died Oct. 21 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device.

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Died: October 21, 2009


(Taken from www.recordnet.com) LODI - In a short letter home from Afghanistan, Army Spc. Kyle Coumas twice told his parents not to worry.

"Just writing to let you know I'm okay," the 22-year-old from Lockeford wrote on Sept. 9, six weeks before he died from injuries after a bomb exploded near his vehicle.

Nearly 200 people heard those words at a somber funeral Monday in Lodi. During the service at Century Assembly Church, Coumas' cousin, Army Sgt. John Delarm, read aloud excerpts of messages the young soldier relayed home.

Coumas seemed enthusiastic about his deployment, his first since enlisting.

"Life is good out here," he wrote on Oct. 9. He thanked his parents for a care package and said it got so hot he didn't need a sleeping bag at night. He wondered how people rode camels and said he hoped he could call sometime soon.

Coumas said he looked forward to a leave in the near future. "Nothing here has changed since before Alexander the Great," he lamented.

After the death of their only child, Coumas' parents, Greg and Lori, wrote a message he would never see. They said they were proud and were blessed to have had him in their lives.

"We wanted you to be safe and secure," they wrote, as read aloud by family friend Sharon Emig. "You needed to make sure everyone else was safe and secure."

October was the deadliest month for U.S. forces since they started fighting in Afghanistan in 2001.

For people in Lodi and surrounding communities, Coumas' death put a local face on the human toll exacted in the post-Sept. 11 conflict.

Coumas was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division at Fort Lewis, Wash. His unit was patrolling in the Arghandab Valley near Kandahar when the bomb exploded, military officials said.

Throughout his short life, Coumas made his mark quietly.

Century Christian School leaders remembered him, because he rarely caused trouble. He was not a social butterfly at St. Mary's High School but was known well by friends and teachers for his eagerness and talents.

In the Army, Coumas earned respect from his colleagues running the mail room for his brigade before his two-month stint as an infantryman, said Brig. Gen. Jeff Mathis, the acting commanding general at Fort Lewis.

Coumas would often boast that he was following in the footsteps of his grandfather, who also was an infantryman, Mathis said.

After Coumas' parents were presented with posthumous medals and the flag that had moments earlier draped his coffin, Century Pastor Dale Edwards closed with comments that echoed a common theme Monday:

"God had a challenge for him and a job," Edwards said. "Kyle represents a whole host of men and women who have purpose to keep us free."