
Pfc. Joseph I. Love completed basic combat training in July, was assigned to Schofield Barracks that same month, and left for Iraq in December, Army officials said.
On Sunday, the 22-year-old became the first 84th Engineer Combat Battalion (Heavy) soldier to be killed in the brief time the unit has spent in the country.
Trained as a combat engineer, Love was serving in Bravo Company as a carpentry and masonry specialist. He died in Balad when a roadside bomb hit his Humvee during convoy operations, the Pentagon said.
Battalion commander Lt. Col. Mark Toy said in an e-mail that the loss reminded all how dangerous the mission remains in...