Christopher D. Kube dies 'of wounds suffered from an improvised explosive device'

SHELBY TOWNSHIP - A teen who got his parents' permission to join the Army at 17 has been killed in the blast of an improvised explosive device in Iraq.

Pfc. Christopher D. Kube, 18, of Macomb County's Shelby Township died Saturday in Baghdad. He was one of two Michigan soldiers reported killed in Iraq last week.

Kube was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 17th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, based at Fort Carson, Colo., the Defense Department said.

"He volunteered for that mission," his mother, Debbie Krupski, said Monday from the family's home, about 15 miles north of Detroit. "My son wasn't even supposed to be there."

Kube was a gunner and the only soldier killed in the explosion, Krupski told The Detroit News.

Kube's parents let him enlist in the Army at 17, and he shipped out to Iraq in October, one month after turning 18.

"He enjoyed the military," his mother said. "He always met the challenge."

She said she last saw her son in February when he was on leave. While home, he married his girlfriend, Tianna, whom he met in Colorado.

Krupski said Kube loved riding dirt bikes and deer-hunting with his father.

He was the oldest of five children. Other survivers include father David Kube, brothers John and Jason, and sisters Jessica and Jennifer.

From the Lansing State Journal