Spc. Michael S. Deem 35, of Rockledge, Fla.; assigned to Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga.; He died Feb. 24 in Baghdad from non-combat-related injuries. In addition to his daughter and son, he is survived by his wife, Lynn, among others.

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The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Spc. Michael S. Deem, 35, of Rockledge, Fla., died Feb. 24 in Baghdad, Iraq, from non-combat related injuries. Deem was assigned to the Army's Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga.
The incident is under investigation.

In January, Michael Deem took his 7-year-old daughter Maran to the Andretti Thrill Park. Then he broke the news: He was headed to Iraq.
"We had a good time together," said Maran. "My dad gave me a big hug and a big kiss, and I just knew he was going to get killed there."
Deem, 35, of Rockledge, Fla., was found dead in his bunk Feb. 24 in Baghdad, according to the Department of Defense, which is investigating the death. He was based at Fort Stewart.
Deem enlisted in the Army in 2002 and served as an information-systems operator.
He is also survived by his second wife, Lynn, and the couple's 3-year-old son, William. When Deem was painting his house or tiling inside, his son was never far behind.
"Toddlers and dads don't always go together, but with him it was never an issue," neighbor Lisa Marietta said.
Maran, who has her father's bright red hair, said she has "real nice memories of us together."
"He's being buried here, and now I'll visit his grave," she said
Military data show that deaths in Iraq due to all non-combat causes, such as accidents, rose by 32 percent from 2004 to 2005. Of the more than 500 non-combat deaths among all service branches since the start of the war, gunshot wounds were the second-leading cause of death, behind vehicle crashes but ahead of heart attacks and other medical ailments.
While many families of service members who died of non-combat causes say they are not familiar with military deployment policies, some question whether the military knowingly put their loved ones at risk.
Among them are relatives of Army Spec. Michael S. Deem, a 35-year-old father of two, who was deployed to Iraq in January 2005 despite a history of depression that family members say was known to the military. Shortly before Deem deployed, a military psychiatrist gave him a long-term supply of Prozac to help him handle the stress, his wife said.
Just 3½ weeks after he arrived in Iraq, Deem died in his sleep of what the Army later determined was an enlarged heart "complicated by elevated levels of fluoxetine" - the generic name for Prozac.
Family members of some troops whose deaths have been labeled suicides complain that the military has given them limited information about the circumstances of the deaths. Some have had to wait more than a year for autopsies and investigative reports, which they say still leave questions unanswered

Michael is also honored in Warriors Walk Memorial, Hinesville, GA.

Spc. Michael S. Deem 35, of Rockledge, Fla.; assigned to Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga.; He died Feb. 24 in Baghdad from non-combat-related injuries. In addition to his daughter and son, he is survived by his wife, Lynn, among others.

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The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Spc. Michael S. Deem, 35, of Rockledge, Fla., died Feb. 24 in Baghdad, Iraq, from non-combat related injuries. Deem was assigned to the Army's Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga.
The incident is under investigation.

In January, Michael Deem took his 7-year-old daughter Maran to the Andretti Thrill Park. Then he broke the news: He was headed to Iraq.
"We had a good time together," said Maran. "My dad gave me a big hug and a big kiss, and I just knew he was going to get killed there."
Deem, 35, of Rockledge, Fla., was found dead in his bunk Feb. 24 in Baghdad, according to the Department of Defense, which is investigating the death. He was based at Fort Stewart.
Deem enlisted in the Army in 2002 and served as an information-systems operator.
He is also survived by his second wife, Lynn, and the couple's 3-year-old son, William. When Deem was painting his house or tiling inside, his son was never far behind.
"Toddlers and dads don't always go together, but with him it was never an issue," neighbor Lisa Marietta said.
Maran, who has her father's bright red hair, said she has "real nice memories of us together."
"He's being buried here, and now I'll visit his grave," she said
Military data show that deaths in Iraq due to all non-combat causes, such as accidents, rose by 32 percent from 2004 to 2005. Of the more than 500 non-combat deaths among all service branches since the start of the war, gunshot wounds were the second-leading cause of death, behind vehicle crashes but ahead of heart attacks and other medical ailments.
While many families of service members who died of non-combat causes say they are not familiar with military deployment policies, some question whether the military knowingly put their loved ones at risk.
Among them are relatives of Army Spec. Michael S. Deem, a 35-year-old father of two, who was deployed to Iraq in January 2005 despite a history of depression that family members say was known to the military. Shortly before Deem deployed, a military psychiatrist gave him a long-term supply of Prozac to help him handle the stress, his wife said.
Just 3½ weeks after he arrived in Iraq, Deem died in his sleep of what the Army later determined was an enlarged heart "complicated by elevated levels of fluoxetine" - the generic name for Prozac.
Family members of some troops whose deaths have been labeled suicides complain that the military has given them limited information about the circumstances of the deaths. Some have had to wait more than a year for autopsies and investigative reports, which they say still leave questions unanswered

Michael is also honored in Warriors Walk Memorial, Hinesville, GA.