Nicholas R. Sowinski, on extended deployment, killed by I.E.D.

A soldier from Tempe died Wednesday in Iraq of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle, the Department of Defense reported Monday.

Sgt. Nicholas R. Sowinski, 25, was an Army cavalry scout assigned to the 4th Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, Fort Wainwright, Alaska.

Sowinski attended Arizona State University's Tempe campus from fall 1999 through spring 2001, school officials said.

Nicholas' family lived in Scottsdale when he was a boy. Scottsdale school officials said he attended schools in the Arcadia area for several years. He graduated from Brophy College Preparatory high school.

His mother, Diane, who lives in Chino Valley, said in a telephone interview Monday that she spoke with her son in April.

"I said to him, 'You have been in a war now; do you think you have made the right decision?' And he said to me, 'Yes,' (that) he was 'proud to serve his country.' "

She said he wrote in his will that he was proud of what he was doing and there was no other place he would rather be.

Sowinski's death brings the number of Arizona soldiers who have died in Iraq to 75. Six have died in Afghanistan.

Sowinski was quoted in an Oct. 6 Associated Press story about the difficulties U.S. soldiers are facing.

"There's a lot of politics going on now, and we're a police force, not an army," Sowinski said. "It limits our options."

Sowinski joined the Army in June 2003 and was assigned to Fort Wainwright in November 2003.

Four other soldiers were injured in the blast, one seriously, a military spokesman said. That soldier was taken to the 28th Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad. The others have returned to duty.

Sowinski was the fifth member of the 172nd Stryker Brigade combat team to die since the Strykers had their deployments extended up to 120 days.

From the Arizona Republic