Iowa guardsman killed in Afghanistan - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Iowa guardsman killed in Afghanistan

DES MOINES, Iowa — An Iowa Army National Guard soldier from Council Bluffs has been killed in a roadside bombing in Afghanistan, the military said Tuesday.

Spc. Brent Maher, 31, died when the vehicle in which he was a gunner was hit by the bomb Monday, the Iowa National Guard said in a news release. Three other soldiers — Sgt. 1st Class Nicholas Jedlicka, 31, of Council Bluffs, Iowa, Spc. Justin Christiansen, 24, of Nebraska City, Neb., and Spc. Dustin Morrison, 20, of New Market, Iowa — were wounded in the attack.

All four soldiers were with the 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry based in Shenandoah.

Maher’s mother, Cheryl Tyner, of Essex, said her son deployed last August and had been in Afghanistan since October, his mother said.

Maher is survived by his wife, Brenna, and three children: Kaitlyn, 9, Matthew 8, and Hannah, 4. They were meeting the body at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, Cheryl Tyner said.

“She’s kind of like me. She has really rough moments and then things kind of smooth out for a while. I think the hardest part is yet to come,” Tyner said.

Maher graduated from Farragut High School in Farragut. The Iowa National Guard said he also attended Metropolitan Community College in Omaha, Neb. Before his mobilization, he worked at the Woodhouse Auto Family in Omaha, Neb., the Guard said.

“He loved outdoor stuff. Hunting and fishing were his two primary things that he liked. But being with his kids was probably the top thing,” his mother said.