
HAWTHORNE, Calif. — As a trainer in Afghanistan, Army Sgt. Tommy McGee, 23, struggled at first to assert himself next to louder colleagues.
“He was having a hard time because his style of sergeant training is a little bit different than most,” said his mother, Sylvia McGee of Hawthorne. “He’s not a yeller or a screamer, and a lot of them are.”
But he soon became an effective trainer and earned the respect of his fellow trainers, she said.
He died July 6 from injuries caused by a roadside bomb in Wazi Khwa, Afghanistan, leaving his unit with a void, said his mother.
“A lot of soldiers talked about him,” she said. “He’s very...