Brentwood HS grieves for another soldier BY LISA MUÑOZ and BILL HUTCHINSONDAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS The flag outside Long Island's Brentwood High School was lowered to half-staff again yesterday as grim news of another graduate slain on a foreign battlefield prompted a new round of grief.Army Spec. Jose Ruiz was killed Sunday by insurgents in a drive-by shooting in Iraq, just two weeks before he was to come home. The 28-year-old married father of a baby girl became the fourth Brentwood High alumnus killed in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past three years."We've been in constant mourning from the time that this war started due to one loss after another," said Assemblyman Phil Ramos, who represents Brentwood, a blue-collar town of 54,000.Pentagon officials said Brentwood High may have graduated more soldiers killed in the two wars than any high school in the country. "That's an amazing statistic," said Maj. Michael Shavers, a Pentagon spokesman, of the grim number.Brentwood High School Superintendent Les Black said Ruiz's picture will be added to the school's wall of heroes, next to Army Sgt. Michael Esposito, Marine Lance Cpl. Ramon Mateo and Army Cpl. Raheen Heighter."When you take a deep breath and say to yourself, 'Okay, maybe this is the last.' Then you find that there's another," Black said.Ruiz, who graduated from Brentwood High in 1995, was killed just two weeks before he was scheduled to leave Iraq for the last time, said his wife of six years, Alexa Ruiz, 28."He was a hero," said the heartbroken widow. "He died for what he believed in."Ruiz - assigned to the 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division - was escorting a convoy in Mosul when his armored vehicle broke down, his family said. When he stepped out, gunfire crackled from a passing car.Ruiz and three other soldiers were killed, his family said.Alexa Ruiz, said she spoke to her husband just hours before he died. She said they talked about their 9-month-old daughter, Liana Alexa, and how they would arrange the furniture in the house they planned to moved into in Tacoma, Wash., when his tour was over."He was ecstatic about coming home," she said. "He felt that he had fulfilled his dream of becoming a warrior and defending other people."I was confident every second of the day that he was going to come home to me," she said. "But I thank God for giving me the time he gave me with him and for giving me a baby with him. That's his mark on the world."Jose Ruiz's parents, Eduardo and Juliana King of Brentwood, said they refused to believe their son was dead when two military officials arrived at their house Monday with the devastating news."I knew why they were here. I told them to leave," said the sobbing mother. "I told them, 'You have the wrong house. You have the wrong Jose.'"Eduardo King, who adopted his wife's son when the boy was 2, said the last time they spoke, Jose ended with, "I love you, dad. Don't forget that."The parents said their son joined the Army despite their objections. They said he was drawn to enlist after 9/11."He wanted to help his country and he always said if he died he wanted to die defending his country," Eduardo King said.King, 54, said he and his wife supported their son's efforts on the battlefield, even though they oppose the war in Iraq. He said Jose's death has strengthened his opposition."Enough is enough," he said. "Stop the bleeding. How many more families need to suffer?"