
BOZEMAN, Mont. — A 31-year-old soldier from Bozeman was killed in Iraq on June 1 after a suicide bomber detonated an explosive near a mosque in Al Yusufiyah, military officials said June 4.
Army Staff Sgt. Travis Atkins is the first soldier from Bozeman and the second from Gallatin County to die in Iraq since the war began there in 2003. He was on his second tour of duty in Iraq and oversaw a squad of 15 soldiers, said his parents, Jack and Elaine Atkins of Bozeman.
“He loved the Army. He did an excellent job,” Elaine Atkins said as she fought back tears. “He was well thought of by his subordinates and his superior officers.”
Atkins and several other U.S....