Army was ticket to being cop

Hector Gutierrez, Rocky Mountain News

Published May 17, 2007 at midnight

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As a youngster, Pfc. Zachary R. Gullett saw his role models on the reality television program Cops.

Gullett, who was assigned to Fort Carson, saw officers and sheriff's deputies help people and arrest bad guys.

Gullett had made up his mind that he was going to pursue a career in law enforcement in his home state of Ohio. He enlisted in the Army to become a military policeman.

Gullett was out for his physical training run on his first day back in Iraq when he collapsed and died in Ad Diwaniyah, his mother, Connie Gullett, said Wednesday. Her son was 20.

Connie Gullett said her son hoped his military career would enhance his prospects of becoming a law enforcement officer. But she emphasized that her son knew service to his country came first.

"He told us many, many times that he was doing his job," his mother recalled. "He knew that he would end up going to Iraq, and he wanted to serve his country."

When he returned to his home on leave Gullett told his family that Americans were helping to rebuild schools and hospitals throughout Iraq.

"He said, 'You're not seeing the good things we're doing,'" Connie Gullett said.

Gullett was born in Dayton, Ohio, on July 3, 1986, and grew up in Hillsboro. He attended Hillsboro High School where he was involved in football, choir, drama and the band. He graduated in 2004, enrolled at Southern State Community College in Ohio, and attended the Ohio Police Academy at Ohio University. He volunteered with the Highland County Sheriff's Department and the neighboring community of New Vienna.

Gullett graduated from police academy when he was 19, but he had to wait until he was 21 to become a police officer.

Friends of Gullett recently created the Pfc. Zachary R. Gullett Memorial Scholarship Trust to help pay for the education of students interested in a law enforcement career, his mother said.

Gullett's funeral was May 11. In addition to his mother, Gullett is survived by his father, Mike; brother Benjamin and half-brother Alan Gullett III.

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