Scott J. Brown dies of 'wounds suffered when his unit came in contact with enemy forces using an IED and small arms fire'

BROOKFIELD - The military was Scott Brown's passion. That's how friends and family are remembering the Brookfield native.

Brown, 33, was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq. He was a sergeant in the Army's 82nd Airborne Division. Brown leaves behind an 11-year-old son who lives in New Berlin.

Kristen Leedom, the boy's mother and Brown's ex-girlfriend, told TODAY'S TMJ4 reporter Charles Benson, "They had so many plans for the future things that they were going to do together, and I think that's really hard to know you're not going to see someone again."

Scott Brown's wife, Delilah Brown, of Fayetteville, N.C. said this was her husband's third tour of duty in Iraq. "Scott loved the Army. He loved his job," she said. "He was just unbelievable."

The Defense Department had not confirmed the death, but Delilah Brown said two Army officials broke the news to her Friday.

"From what I've heard, the (improvised explosive device) hit, then there was small-arms fire," she said softly.

Leedom remembered her high school sweetheart as a man with a passion for life. She said she and Taylor, 11, would miss Scott Brown terribly.

The Brookfield High School graduate served nine years in the Army and was destined to be a "lifer," Delilah Brown said. He previously served in Kuwait, Kosovo and Afghanistan.

He had returned to the U.S. for a three-week break in December, but when he left, he told his wife not to expect him back until January 2008.

"I worried myself to death when he left," Delilah Brown said. "All my prayers and thoughts were with him every morning, every night, every time I talked to him online or wrote him e-mails every day. He was the backbone of my family. He was my life."

From WTMJ 4