Nicholas Rogers killed by small arms fire

DELTONA -- Another Army medic from Deltona was killed in combat in Iraq this week, the second such loss in the war on terror his hometown has suffered in three weeks.

Pfc. Nicholas Rogers, 27 -- son of the city's deputy fire chief, Robert Rogers -- was walking on patrol with fellow soldiers in Baghdad on Sunday when he was shot and killed by enemy fire, said Peter Behnke, a longtime family friend who served as a spokesman Monday because the family was too distraught to talk to reporters.

Army officials would not confirm Rogers' death Monday, citing a policy not to release information about casualties until 24 hours after family members have been notified.

Rogers, who had been in Baghdad for only two months, was a husband and father, with a 3-year-old daughter. His wife, Kelly, is six months pregnant with their second daughter, Behnke said.

Kelly Rogers and her daughter are planning to stay at Chief Rogers' Deltona home, where they recently moved from Fort Drum in New York once Nicholas Rogers was deployed, Behnke said. Soldiers showed up at the fire chief's doorstep Sunday night to tell the family about Rogers' death.

"It was a pretty emotional scene," Behnke said.

The news spread fast across Deltona. Members of the city's fire and rescue team have been at the chief's house around the clock to support the family, Behnke said. Chief Rogers has been with fire services for about 25 years, officials said.

"It's sad," said Division Chief David Faer, who remembered when Nicholas Rogers used to hang out with the firefighters as a child. "You don't know how to act because it's hard to fathom. This hits so close to home."

Deltona Mayor Dennis Mulder, who graduated from Deltona High School with Rogers in 1997, said his classmate's death puts an unsettling local connection to the overseas war at hand.

Mulder remembered Rogers as a classmate with a gift for making others laugh.

"He would always say the funniest things at the right times," said Mulder, who took English and foreign-language classes with Rogers and eventually attended his wedding. "He could crack the room up."

Rogers' death is the second tragedy to hit the school this month.

Spc. Angelo Vaccaro, also a combat medic, was killed Oct. 2 by a rocket-propelled grenade while he was trying to recover wounded soldiers in Afghanistan, officials said. Vaccaro, who graduated from Deltona High in 2001, was 23.

The two had much in common. Both were combat medics and Deltona High grads who served in the Army's 10th Mountain Division, also known as the "Mountain Lions." And their fellow troops were so attached to them that they nicknamed them both "Doc," their families said.

The number of military personnel who have been killed during Operation Iraqi Freedom climbed to 2,791 by Monday afternoon, including a Jacksonville Marine who was killed Saturday.

Cpl. Joshua C. Watkins was "conducting combat operations" in Al Anbar province in Iraq when he and three other North Carolina-based soldiers were killed, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.

The military reported that 94 Floridians have been killed in combat during Operation Iraqi Freedom as of Oct. 14.

Mulder and Faer said the city and fire departments would continue to support the Rogers family as they grieve for the deputy chief's son.

"You know, you hear about this stuff every day, but I don't like the feeling of this being so close to home," the mayor said. "This is a scary reality for us right now."

Before joining the military, Nicholas Rogers earned certification as an emergency medical technician. Helping others came naturally to him, Behnke said, because it was the family business.

"It was just embedded in him," Behnke said outside of the Rogers' home Monday. "I think he was really there to serve and to take care of his guys."

From the Orlando Sentinel