R.I.P. Spc. Christian M. Adams

Army Spc. Christian M. Adams
Died June 11, 2010 serving during Operation Enduring Freedom

26, of Sierra Vista, Ariz.; assigned to the 20th Engineer Battalion, 36th Engineer Brigade, Fort Hood, Texas; died June 11 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained in a non-combat-related incident.

(The following was taken from www.azcentral.com of June 17, 2010) A Sierra Vista soldier who died in Afghanistan late last week was described by his stepfather as a religious man who loved his family and the military.

Army Spc. Christian M. Adams, 26, died Friday of wounds from a non-combat-related incident, the Department of Defense said. No further information about his death was released this week, however.

"He was a strong-willed person," said John Roberts, 56.

Adams, a Buena High School graduate, left behind a wife, Donna, and 2-year-old daughter, Faith, both of Sierra Vista.

Roberts said Donna Adams had spoken with her husband by phone Friday morning before he died.

Adams' family traveled to the Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Sunday to be there when his body was returned to the United States. The ceremony, during which fellow soldiers carried the casket off the plane, was simple and dignified, Roberts said.

Adams had been in Afghanistan since March in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. He joined the military as a track vehicle repairer in June 2003 and previously was deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from March 2004 to March 2005.

Adams was assigned in spring 2008 to the 20th Engineer Battalion, 36th Engineer Brigade, at Fort Hood, Texas.

Circumstances surrounding his death are under investigation, the Fort Hood Public Affairs Office said.

During his years in the military, Adams received several awards and decorations, including the National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon, NATO Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal and Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.

Funeral arrangements are pending, Roberts said.