Former vaulter dies from explosion in Iraq

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/index.php? ... nedieswmug

Blast in Iraq kills ex-Tucsonan

ERIC SAGARA
Tucson Citizen


Photo courtesy of Cpl. Lobello

Santa Rita High School graduate Master Sgt. Kenneth E. Hunt Jr. died Wednesday of injuries received in a roadside blast in Iraq.
If Master Sgt. Kenneth E. Hunt Jr. had decided to retire or hadn't given a subordinate the day off, he might be alive today.
The 1983 Santa Rita High School graduate died Wednesday at Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas after spending nearly three months trying to recover from injuries received in a roadside blast in Iraq.

The day he died was his daughter Kimberly's 13th birthday.

Hunt's mother, Juanita, said the 40-year-old was the oldest patient in the San Antonio-area military hospital.

Hunt was injured July 24 while in the turret of an armored Humvee. It was part of a six-vehicle team looking for makeshift explosives in Al Taqaddum, in the Sunni-dominated Al-Anbar province west of Baghdad, the heart of the Iraqi insurgency.

His vehicle struck an anti-tank mine after a large explosion rocked one of the other vehicles, wounding four Marines.

Sixty percent of Hunt's body was burned in the blast, and he was taken to a hospital in Bilad, Iraq, before being flown to Brooke two days later.

At the time of the explosion, Hunt was a month overdue for retirement, his mother said.

"He just wanted to be sure that his men were safe," Juanita Hunt said in a telephone interview yesterday from her home in Eufaula, Ala. "That was the kind of man he was.

"When he got hurt he was not even supposed to be there," she said. "He was just supposed to send his men to do the job, to patrol the area, but he decided to give the day off to the guy who was supposed to do it."

Hunt signed up for the Marines in 1983 fresh out of Santa Rita and was stationed most recently at the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma. He was assigned to the Marine Wing Support Group 37 of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, I Marine Expeditionary Force and was sent to Iraq on Feb. 11.

Juanita Hunt and her husband, Kenneth Hunt Sr., moved to Alabama in the late 1980s.

His mother described Hunt as a quiet man who shared his father's sense of humor and preferred to spend time with his family when not on assignment. She recalled thinking it was odd that her son was a drill instructor at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego.

"When he told me he was going to be a drill instructor, I said, 'You don't have the voice,'" Juanita Hunt said. But "he loved to talk to those kids that were joining up. He touched their hearts. He saved the lives of a lot of people by teaching them to do their job well."

Growing up, he played baseball. At Santa Rita, he played football and participated in track. His mother said one year he won third place in a pole vault event.

He liked to play the guitar and loved to listen to Kiss. He didn't drink or smoke and led a quiet teenage life, she said.

Two years after joining the Marines, he married Maria. They had met while he was stationed in San Diego.
Along with their son, Kenneth E. Hunt III, 19, she and their daughter live in Yuma.

His wife declined requests for interviews but prepared a statement that was released by the Marines.

"The family wants to ensure the correct story is told," the statement said. "Freedom is not free and this is part of the sacrifice we must endure to maintain our way of life."

Hunt is the 57th soldier from Arizona to die of wounds received in Iraq. In addition to his mother, wife and children, Hunt is survived by his father, Kenneth Hunt Sr., of Eufaula, Ala.

"He was a good boy, a good father, a loving husband and a terrific son, but most of all he was a good Marine," Juanita Hunt said. "Everybody loved him. Everybody respected him, and everybody is thankful for what he did.

"God needed someone to guard him up there."

[vaultmd]

Thank goodness it wasn't Matt.

[indestructo]

To every soldier out there: Thanks.

To all of you who risk the ultimate sacrifice to protect this country: From the bottom of our hearts, we're proud of you.