Alexander Jordan, a newlywed, laid to rest

RIO RANCHO, N.M. -- A soldier from New Mexico who was shot on the streets of Baghdad was buried today in Rio Rancho. Army Spc. Alexander Jordan was ambushed while talking to Iraqi children on Sept. 10.

He joined the military in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.

Jordan had just started a new life in Miami where he was married in April.

Today the Cibola High School graduate was buried at the Vista Verde Cemetery in Rio Rancho.

From KRQE

Protests disturb soldier's funeral

Flags around the state were at half-staff today. Dozens of motorcyclists lined a Rio Rancho street to pay tribute at the burial of Army Cpl. Alexander Jordan, killed in Iraq earlier this month.

But the bikers also found themselves serving as a human chain of concern, a buffer between a solemn funeral and an outside annoyance.

Members of three riding groups, the Black Berets, the Patriot Guard and the New Mexico Patriots, carried large American flags and effectively closed off the proceedings with a wall of patriotic solidarity.

"They are just dishonoring everyone around here," said Ron Smiley, president of the Edgewood Black Beret chapter, of four protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., who held protest signs nearby decrying homosexuality.

One wore a "God Hates Fags" T-shirt.

"These boys dying - that's why they have the right to stand out here," Smiley said.

The riders' goal, Smiley said, was to shield Jordan's grieving family members and friends from the spectacle.

"They don't have to get a view of fools like this," Smiley said.

The protesters maintain that soldiers' deaths are proof that God has cursed America for its immoral and gay-friendly ways.

"America is doomed," said Shirley Phelps-Roper, legal counsel for and a member of the church.

As she spoke, a passing motorist yelled out "loser."

The group has been protesting soldiers' funerals since June 2005, she said. The group is also known for picketing the funerals of AIDS victims.

As a result, a number of states have enacted legislation restricting demonstrations at funerals. President Bush also signed into law a bill restricting protests at military funerals.

In 2005, the group picketed churches in Santa Fe and the University of New Mexico for tolerating homsexuality.

Rio Rancho was ready for the protests.

"I was warned by the mayor of Topeka," said Rio Rancho Mayor Kevin Jackson standing at the motorcycle line. "They make me want to go put on the uniform and serve again."

Police officers outnumbered the protesters by about 8 to 1. Rio Rancho Deputy Police Chief Ken Guth said his agency had 32 officers working at the scene, including the SWAT team.

Police confined the protesters to kitty-corner from the Vista Verde Cemetery on Sara Road Southeast just north of Intel.

Officers from the New Mexico State Police and Albuquerque Police Department were also on hand.

The protesters left midway through 10 a.m. service, driving away together.

Jordan was a member of the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 172nd Stryker Brigade based in Fort Richardson, Alaska.

He listed his hometown as Miami, and enlisted in the military in 2003, according to news reports.

He attended Cibola High School and the New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell and lived for a time on Albuquerque's West Side, according to a news release from the Governor's Office.

He is survived by his wife, Tiffany; his father, Robert, and mother, Candace; two sisters, Lacey and Christina; and a brother, Rey.

Read the rest at the Tribune

Slain Stryker soldier looked forward to raising a family with his new wife

FORT WAINWRIGHT -- A newlywed soldier killed in Iraq was looking forward to returning to South Florida to raise a family, his mother said.

Spc. Alexander Jordan, 31, died Sunday of injuries caused by enemy small-arms fire while he was conducting a mounted patrol in Baghdad, said Maj. Kirk Gohlke, an Army spokesman in Alaska.

Jordan, of Miami, was an infantryman assigned to the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, at Fort Richardson.

He was the second Alaska-based Stryker soldier killed since the brigade had its deployment extended in July for up to 120 days. The Strykers will return to Fort Wainwright, near Fairbanks, at the end of their tour in an effort to consolidate the team.

Jordan, who was married in April, joined the Army in September 2003.

He would stop in dangerous parts of Baghdad to talk to children on the street, his mother, Candace Jordan of Palmetto Bay, Fla., told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel for Wednesday's editions.

"He wanted to have a house full of kids," she said.

Alexander Jordan was an only child.

Read the rest at the Anchorage Daily News