SGT, US ARMY
LCPL, US MARINE CORPS
PERSIAN GULF, IRAQ

Sgt. Thomas of Valdosta, Georgia and Rod Shelley became best friends in the Georgia Army National Guard. They both were ex-Marines, both about the same age, and both enjoyed searching for arrowheads and fishing together. And when their infantry unit was sent to Iraq in May, they went to war together. In two roadside bomb blasts separated by only six days, they were among eight Georgia citizen-soldiers all members of the same battalion who became the Georgia Guard's first combat casualties since World War II. When Thomas' grandparents, John and Manuela Thomas, got the news, Shelley's wife, Heidi, visited them to offer her condolences. Then she received the bad news about her husband Sunday night. Thomas was married but had no children. He dreamed of becoming a forest ranger and wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail. He was 33.

Army
National Guard,
2nd Battalion,
121st Infantry Regiment
48th Infantry Brigade
Albany, Ga.

SGT, US ARMY
LCPL, US MARINE CORPS
PERSIAN GULF, IRAQ

Sgt. Thomas of Valdosta, Georgia and Rod Shelley became best friends in the Georgia Army National Guard. They both were ex-Marines, both about the same age, and both enjoyed searching for arrowheads and fishing together. And when their infantry unit was sent to Iraq in May, they went to war together. In two roadside bomb blasts separated by only six days, they were among eight Georgia citizen-soldiers all members of the same battalion who became the Georgia Guard's first combat casualties since World War II. When Thomas' grandparents, John and Manuela Thomas, got the news, Shelley's wife, Heidi, visited them to offer her condolences. Then she received the bad news about her husband Sunday night. Thomas was married but had no children. He dreamed of becoming a forest ranger and wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail. He was 33.

Army
National Guard,
2nd Battalion,
121st Infantry Regiment
48th Infantry Brigade
Albany, Ga.