Sgt. Deyson K. Cariaga of Honolulu, Hawaii was an avid surfer known as "Dice" to his platoon mates. He was a graduate of Roosevelt High School. Deyson was like any 20-year-old. He liked to surf and loved to sleep. He grew up in the Honolulu neighborhood of Kalihi, close to downtown, in a section where most residents were working-class folks of Filipino or Samoan descent. It is a place of housing projects, gangs, and drug deals. Dice was the younger of two boys, raised by a single mother and his grandparents. All three generations lived in the same house on one income. Dice served meals at a retirement home and always thought of his grandparents; he brought leftovers home whenever he could. He was also compassionate, selfless and committed to his mission in Iraq. But it was his competitive spirit led him to join the Army National Guard. While he became lonely and longed for Hawaii often trawling the Internet for DVDs of surfing films to remind him of home, he believed in his mission. He also adored children and was always the pied piper and all the little kids would follow him and he regularly carried around a backpack filled with toys to hand out to needy Iraqi children fit his character. He is survived by his mother, Theresa Inouye, and an older brother, Lance. He was 20. He was the first Hawaii citizen-soldier to die in combat since the Vietnam War had been a member of the Army National Guard for three years.

Army
National Guard
229th Military Intelligence Company
29th Separate Infantry Brigade
Oahu, Kalaeloa

Sgt. Deyson K. Cariaga of Honolulu, Hawaii was an avid surfer known as "Dice" to his platoon mates. He was a graduate of Roosevelt High School. Deyson was like any 20-year-old. He liked to surf and loved to sleep. He grew up in the Honolulu neighborhood of Kalihi, close to downtown, in a section where most residents were working-class folks of Filipino or Samoan descent. It is a place of housing projects, gangs, and drug deals. Dice was the younger of two boys, raised by a single mother and his grandparents. All three generations lived in the same house on one income. Dice served meals at a retirement home and always thought of his grandparents; he brought leftovers home whenever he could. He was also compassionate, selfless and committed to his mission in Iraq. But it was his competitive spirit led him to join the Army National Guard. While he became lonely and longed for Hawaii often trawling the Internet for DVDs of surfing films to remind him of home, he believed in his mission. He also adored children and was always the pied piper and all the little kids would follow him and he regularly carried around a backpack filled with toys to hand out to needy Iraqi children fit his character. He is survived by his mother, Theresa Inouye, and an older brother, Lance. He was 20. He was the first Hawaii citizen-soldier to die in combat since the Vietnam War had been a member of the Army National Guard for three years.

Army
National Guard
229th Military Intelligence Company
29th Separate Infantry Brigade
Oahu, Kalaeloa