Stryker soldiers identified; 2 from Oregon

By Hal Bernton
Seattle Times staff reporter

	KARIE HAMILTON / AP Lt. Col. Stephen Barger, public-affairs officer at Fort Lewis, speaks yesterday about the deaths of three soldiers in Iraq. He read statements from the 3rd Brigade's commander and two victims' families.
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The Army yesterday released the names of three Fort Lewis soldiers who died early Monday evening in an accident north of Baghdad that ranked as the base's worst casualty toll since the onset of U.S. hostilities in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The soldiers perished in two Stryker vehicles that tumbled into an irrigation canal.

The dead soldiers were identified as Staff Sgt. Steven H. Bridges, 33,of Tracy, Calif.; Spc. Joseph M. Blickenstaff, 23, of Corvallis, Ore.; and Spc. Christopher J. Rivera Wesley, 26, of Portland.

The soldiers were part of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, which is taking the Strykers, a new generation of eight-wheeled armored vehicles, into combat for the first time.

Wesley, who joined the Army a year after graduating from high school in Beaverton, Ore., was proud to be a Stryker driver, said his mother, Rose Wesley.

"Ever since he was 6 years old, he dreamed of being in the Army. The Army was his passion," said Rose Wesley, who learned of her son's death after traveling from Portland to Guam to bury her own mother.

Wesley, a bachelor, had been largely raised by his grandmother in Guam. And he had been saddened that he would not be able to attend her funeral, his mother said. In a recent phone call from Kuwait, Wesley said, her son had told her that although he would be driving a Stryker from Kuwait to Iraq during the funeral, he would be thinking of his family. "He said his grandmother would have understood," Rose Wesley said.

The families of Bridges and Blickenstaff yesterday grieved privately, releasing statements through Army officials at Fort Lewis.

"Almost six years ago, Steve and I were married," said Debra Bridges. "He took the responsibility of a full-time family, as I already had three children. We also have one of our own. Never in his life would he have thought anything could happen to our perfect world."

	Steven H. Bridges

Blickenstaff also was married.

His family, in a statement, said, "We remember his humor, his depth, intensity, and his strength of spirit. He was a living testimony to compassion and empathy."

Teachers remembered Blickenstaff as quiet and well liked, although he missed enough school days to land in a program for at-risk teens, said former teacher Jim Phillips. He said Blickenstaff joined the Army to find discipline.

"He was missing a lot of school, and he needed somebody to put an arm around him," Phillips said. "I think the military was the right choice for him. He was just one of those quiet boys who was looking for direction."

The three soldiers' brigade is on the front lines of Army transformation.

Each Stryker can hold up to 11 people and is outfitted with high-tech equipment to help communicate and find the enemy. More than 300 Stryker vehicles are in the 3rd Brigade, which arrived in Iraq during the past week and has begun combat patrols north of Baghdad.

The Monday accident occurred as a convoy of Strykers drove alongside an irrigation canal. Army officials said an embankment gave way and the Strykers landed upside down in the canal.

	Joseph M. Blickenstaff

"The night of December 8 and the days following were difficult for the Arrowhead Brigade, we didn't just lose three soldiers, we lost brothers in arms. They were friends," said Col. Michael Rounds, the brigade commander in Iraq, in a statement released yesterday by Fort Lewis.

An investigation into the accident is under way.

In Iraq, the 3rd Brigade is planning a moment of silence today to honor the three soldiers who died.

"The best thing we can do to remember our fallen comrades is to drive on with our mission to eliminate the threat here and make Iraq a better place to live for its people," Rounds wrote in his statement.

Soldiers at Fort Lewis, meanwhile, continued training for possible deployment to Iraq. The news of the deaths has shaken some of them, but morale is still strong.

"I can assure you it makes our resolve that much stronger," said Master Sgt. Robert Wright, a 3rd Brigade member who is training at Fort Lewis. "This is what you train your whole life for."

A 20-year-old private who didn't want to be identified said the Stryker accident has underscored the need for safety precautions while stationed in Iraq.

"It's given everybody a sudden realization of what can possibly happen," he said.

A total of 449 U.S. soldiers have perished in Iraq since the war began, due to accidents or hostile fire. The dead soldiers included six who listed Washington as their home state and at least seven who listed Oregon.

Hal Bernton: 206-464-2581 or hbernton@seattletimes.com

Times reporter Maria Gonzalez and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company