Marine Lance Cpl. Chavez was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, California. Chavez died in a non-hostile incident. His family has been told he died from a gunshot wound. Chavez's death is currently under investigation. Since he was a boy, Steven wanted to be a soldier like his father. After the terrorist attacks on 9/11, he began making plans to join the military. He joined the Delayed Entry program his senior year of high school and participated in FFA, track, basketball and was chosen as an All-South All Star, a state linebacker and an All-District linebacker and running back in school. After graduating from Hondo High School in Hondo, New Mexico in 2005 he joined the Marines. In September, Steven left for Kuwait before traveling to a base in Ramadi, Iraq. He was a gunner with the 2-4 Marine Division and was most recently working as a minesweeper. His tour was extended so his unit could debrief others on areas where insurgents had planted improvised explosive devices. His family and fellow soldiers already considered him a hero because of his actions on a reconnaissance mission. A sniper shot a friend of his in the jugular and Steven dragged him out of the street and plugged his wound – saving his life. He loved the outdoors and was making plans with his dad to go fishing when he returned home in a week. Before Steven's last planned mission, he made an early morning call home to his family to tell them he loved them. But he also had a premonition about this last mission. He told his family he was nervous about it – that something about it was just not right. In one of his last letters home, Steven wrote, "Yes, I'm scared. Nothing is scarier than the uncertainty ... but (God) will calm my fears and give us the strength to do the job we have been called to do. I wouldn't change one thing about my life. I've never been more proud of the choices I've made in my life than the day I graduated from basic training."