Jeffery L. Wiener

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — When Jeffery Wiener first joined Jefferson County EMS after living and working in New York, he brought a hard-charging attitude to the job.

So it came as no surprise to co-workers when Wiener joined the Naval Reserve in 2002, then took special training to become a Navy corpsman attached to a Marine unit.

“He was always real gung-ho, straight forward, no beating around the bush,” said his partner of 18 months, Louisville Metro paramedic John Cooney. “That was his demeanor.”

Wiener, a petty officer third class assigned to II Marine Expeditionary Force, joined the service after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. He was shot Saturday by insurgents during a firefight after a suicide bombing near a hospital in western Iraq, military officials said Wednesday.

Insurgents used a civilian hospital to stage the attack,...