Albert M. Nelson slain by sniper

The death of a Fort Carson soldier in Iraq earlier this month came as a surprise to his relatives.

They thought he was still in Colorado.

“I didn’t even know he was in Iraq,” said Jean Feggins of Philadelphia, the mother of Pfc. Albert M. Nelson.

The 31-year-old Nelson was killed Dec. 4 with Pfc. Roger A. Suarez-Gonzalez, 21, when their infantry unit came under small-arms fire in Ramadi, the Army said Friday. The men were with a 2nd Brigade Combat Team battalion sent to Anbar province, southwest of Baghdad.

Feggins said her son enlisted in the Army about a year ago.

“He was only in there about a year,” Feggins said.

Before joining the Army, Nelson worked as a security guard and at other jobs. Feggins said her son was a “regular guy” and a “people person.”

Nelson was the oldest of Feggins’ six children. The youngest is 12. Feggins said she raised them all to look up to their older brother.

“They’re devastated,” Feggins said.

Feggins declined to talk in detail about Nelson’s personal life.

“He’s a grown man,” Feggins said. “He was a grown man.”

Feggins said her relationship with her son went through some cool times.

“Me and him, we didn’t always see eye to eye, but we were best friends,” Feggins said.

Feggins said her son never married or had children.

Nelson and Suarez-Gonzalez died while conducting security and observation operations, the Army said.

From the Gazette