Fates of two soldiers hit Oregon hard

MADRAS, Ore. — Two days before Army Pfc. Thomas Lowell Tucker disappeared in Iraq, he called friends to let them know his unit would be searching vehicles in an increasingly violent part of the country and he would be out of telephone and Internet contact.

"He just kind of told me that it was going to be dangerous," said Margee Hagedorn, Tucker's friend since middle school. "But he told me he was probably going to be going on a little vacation after he got back."

Instead, Tucker, 25, an Army infantryman based at Fort Campbell, Ky., and Pfc. Kristian Menchaca disappeared and another soldier, David Babineau, was killed Friday at a military checkpoint in the "Triangle of Death," south of Baghdad.

In Madras — an agricultural community of about 5,000 north of Bend — friends and family rallied around Tucker's parents, Wes and Meg Tucker.

"The family has come to the realization that Tom has gained a much larger family through this ordeal than he had when he left home to go help to free the Iraqi people and protect his country from the threat of terrorism," they said.

At the family's house southwest of town, six large flags were anchored in the close-cropped lawn and fluttered beside antique farm equipment as Jefferson County sheriff's deputies guarded the driveway.

The family declined interviews but released a recording of a phone message Tucker left on their answering machine in February, shortly before he deployed: "Be proud of me, Mom. I'm defending my country. Tell Sis and my nephews hello for me, I'm OK, I'm on my way."

Tucker was born in Prineville and grew up in Madras with his sister, Tayva. He loved music and played the piano, the family said.

Friends described "Tommy" Tucker as outgoing and strong-willed. "He was not shy," said Josh Tolman, who attended Madras High School with Tucker. "He could meet anybody. It didn't matter who it was, he could talk to them and make friends."

He enjoyed working on off-road trucks and driving them or his dirt bike on rural roads.

After graduating from Madras High in 1999, Tucker worked a variety of construction jobs, said Tim McDonald, who co-owns McDonald Development of Redmond, where Tucker worked as a framer.

But recent years had been rough. He was partying too hard and seemed to lack direction, McDonald said. He decided to join the Army last summer.

Tucker saw a way to do something positive for himself and his country. "I think he was hoping for a new life," McDonald said.

Tucker joined the Army in July and arrived at Fort Campbell in December for training before joining his unit, already in Iraq. Since being deployed, Tucker had kept in touch with friends via e-mail and telephone. Although he tried to shield friends from the realities of war, he shared troubling stories, such as when the Humvee in front of his was hit by a roadside bomb, Hagedorn said.

He seemed to have found something of what he was looking for, McDonald said. "He said he liked it, and it was working out for him."

Tucker's death weighed particularly hard on Tom Weiss, Jefferson County's veterans-services officer. His son, Joel Weiss, is the same age as Tucker, 25, and is en route to Iraq.

Tucker's death should remind everyone that seemingly remote wars can have lasting consequences, Weiss said. "The cost of war isn't just bullets and tanks," he said. "It's human lives."

U.S. too slow,

soldier's uncle says

HOUSTON — The mother of Pfc. Kristian Menchaca answered the door at her Brownsville home early Tuesday too grief-stricken to speak.

Maria Vasquez instead issued a statement written in Spanish that said, "I am against the war and I feel very hurt by what has happened to my son."

Ken MacKenzie, uncle of Menchaca, 23, went on NBC's "Today" show to blame the U.S. government for reacting too slowly to his nephew's capture and said the military should have offered $100 million and detainees in return for the soldiers' lives.

There had been no public demand for a ransom, and U.S. policy prohibits striking deals with hostage takers on the premise that it would encourage more kidnappings.

"It's very upsetting to me that they would give you details of the torture, of the beheading," said Mario Vasquez, another of Menchaca's uncles.

Menchaca grew up in a close-knit but extended Mexican-American family in Houston. His uncle and cousins remembered a sweet, quiet young man who was proud to be in the military and later wanted to join the Border Patrol.

"He talked about how happy he was that he was serving his country," said Sylvia Grice, 37, Menchaca's cousin.

Relatives said he married Christina Menchaca, 18, a few weeks before being deployed to Iraq. She also declined to speak to reporters.

When Menchaca was home in the spring, his cousin, Juan Manuel Vasquez Jr., 31, said Tuesday, he noticed a change in his cousin. "He looked a little distant. He had trouble sleeping," he said.

Vasquez said Menchaca's death reinforces his feelings about the war, which he said doesn't "make any sense."