Mitchel T. Mutz killed by I.E.D.

When Army Spc. Mitchel T. Mutz left for Iraq on his second tour of duty about two months ago, he shared for the first time since enlisting in the service some concern with his Falls City parents.

"Before he left, he said, 'Mom, Dad, I'm worried this time,'" said his father, Bobby Mutz, recalling that reports of growing violence in Iraq seemed to be weighing on his son's mind.

"We just reassured him, you know, that we loved him," said the former Karnes County sheriff.

So when the doorbell rang Thursday afternoon and the elder Mutz saw a chaplain and a uniformed Army officer standing at his front door, he said he knew what to expect.

"I told them, 'You don't need to tell me what happened,'" he said.

The Defense Department announced Friday that an improvised explosive device killed the 23-year-old and another soldier, Sgt. 1st Class Schuyler B. Haynes, 40, of New York. The two were on mission in the town of Baquba when the device exploded.

"He was a brave young man to do what he did," Mutz said of his son, who waited six months to be assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood.

Mutz said his son was intrigued with the work of a cavalry scout, adding he repeatedly watched the movie "We Were Soldiers."

"He said, 'That's what I want to do. I want to join the Army and do what needs to be done for the country.'"

Mitchel Mutz decided to join the Army in February 2003 after studying for two years at Coastal Bend College. He graduated in 2001 from Falls City High School, where he played basketball and golf.

Mutz last spoke with his family Oct. 21, the day his older brother, 27-year-old Nathan Mutz, a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper, got married. Bobby Mutz said his younger son was slated to be best man before he was deployed to Iraq for another year.

"He said, 'Mom and Dad, I want to go over there and get my year behind,'" his father said.

He said services are pending, and that he expects his son's body to arrive in Falls City on Monday.

In addition to his father and brother, Mutz is survived by his mother, Dixie; paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Mutz of Floresville; and maternal grandparents, Mary Louise and Roy Pullin of Kenedy.

He was preceded in death by his paternal grandfather, Philip Mutz.

From the Express News