Sailor slain in Afghanistan recalled as 'always upbeat'

Many people who knew Petty Officer 3rd Class Jarod Newlove say the same thing: He was almost always lighthearted.

The West Seattle sailor wrestled and played baseball in high school, but his best skill, said friend Darrel Shankar, was "He was able to make everybody laugh. He was always upbeat, always cheerful."

The Navy confirmed Thursday that Newlove had died in Afghanistan. He was 25 years old. Initial reports were that he was captured by the Taliban, but that remains unclear. An investigation is under way.

Afghan officials say Newlove's body was pulled from a river Wednesday evening. The body of Petty Officer 2nd Class Justin McNeley, of Kingman, Ariz., has also been recovered.

U.S. authorities remain at a loss to explain what two junior enlisted men in noncombat jobs were doing driving alone last week nearly 60 miles from their base in a dangerous area controlled by the Taliban.

Newlove's father, Joseph Newlove, can't understand it either. He said his son was sent to Kabul.

"He's never been out of that town. So why would he go out of that town? He wouldn't have," Joseph Newlove told KOMO-TV.

On Thursday, there was a sign on the door of the home Jarod Newlove shared with his wife, Kimberly, and two young children: "The family has no comment. Please respect our privacy."

Newlove and his wife were high-school sweethearts, Shankar said. A 2003 graduate of Chief Sealth High School, Newlove stayed in touch with his buddies.

"Every time he came around town he made sure he got all of us together," Shankar said. "We'd laugh about high school and all the dumb things we did."

Nels Enquist, who was assistant principal at Chief Sealth when Newlove was a student, said he was a "very nice young man, hardworking, who always had a smile on his face and a sense of humor."

Newlove served five years in the active-duty Navy and was trained as a culinary specialist as he served aboard the San Diego-based USS New Orleans. In 2009, as a reservist, he volunteered to return to active duty for a 12-month posting, according to Navy officials. NATO officials have said he was an instructor at a counterinsurgency school for Afghan security forces.

Shankar said Newlove joined the military so he could support his family.

An album of photos titled "Training for Afghanistan" posted on a website showed Newlove learning how to drive Humvees in convoys, as well as learning how to insert an intravenous needle.

"I like playing and watching sports, and just spending time with my family," Newlove wrote in a posting on a social-networking website.

In other posts, Newlove noted boredom, the anticipation of returning home for a summer leave and then his return for what he expected to be a final two months of duty in Kabul.

"Going back to Hell first thing tomorrow morning," he wrote in a July 13 post.

Less than two weeks later, he was gone.

The Associated Press and

Seattle Times staff reporters Susan Gilmore and Jack Broom contributed to this report.