Cloud over Fort Carson

Base left reeling as 6 soldiers die in a week in Iraq

Tillie Fong And Hector Gutierrez, Rocky Mountain News

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Six Fort Carson soldiers were killed last week, including five in one attack that was the single deadliest for the post since the war in Iraq began four years ago.

"The mountain post is saddened by the losses of the soldiers last week, and we feel it deeply," said Karen Linne, a spokeswoman for Fort Carson, on Monday.

The five killed June 28 were all assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, which was deployed to Iraq last October. They were on patrol in Baghdad and were attacked by insurgents using improvised explosive devices.

Two days later, Green Beret Staff Sgt. Robb Rolfing died of his wounds from small-arms fire in Baghdad. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne), which is also based at Fort Carson.

The base has had 212 deaths since the war in Iraq began.

The five killed on June 28 were:

• Sgt. Giann C. Joya Mendoza, 27, of North Hollywood, Calif., was a native of Honduras but spent much of his time in the United States.

"He always liked the military since he was a kid," said his mother, Maria Mendoza, of Los Angeles. "He was always following the rules, and the military has schedules of what he was to do."

Joya Mendoza joined the Army in September 1999 and was deployed to Korea for a couple of years. After finishing his tour, he left the military and worked in accounting at a motel.

"When the war (in Iraq) started, he wanted to go back and find a job in the Army," said his mother. "He went into the Army because he was happy, because he liked to defend the country."

He joined the 2nd Brigade Combat Team last June..

• Sgt. Michael J. Martinez, 24, of Chula Vista, Calif., was inspired by his neighbor, a former police officer and current investigator for the San Diego district attorney, to dedicate his life to law enforcement.

"Since he was a kid, he wanted to help people," said his father, Manuel Martinez.

Martinez decided to enlist in the Army in 2003 after taking classes at Southwestern Community College in San Diego. He also had a military role model in his father, who served in Vietnam.

Martinez's family contacted one of his closest friends and former teammates on the Eastlake High School baseball team, San Diego Padres standout first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, to inform him of the news of Martinez's death.

About five hours before he was killed, Martinez managed to phone his mother.

"His mother got the phone call and they said how much they loved each other, how much she loved him," his father said. "He told her that he loved his brothers and his family, and that, hopefully, they would come back safe."

Martinez's first tour in Iraq was in 2004-2005. He is married and has a14-month-old son, Landon Michael.

• Spc. Dustin L. Workman II, 19, of Greenwood, Neb., had a plan for his life and was determined to join the Army at 17.

"He just wanted to be a police officer," said his mother, Valerie Workman. "That was his plan when he came back from Iraq. He figured it was good training if he joined the Army first."

Workman's mother had tried to dissuade him from joining the military, but that only hardened his resolve.

"He is a very strong-willed person," said Valerie Workman. "If you tell him not to do something, then that was what he was going to do."

Workman was very close to his family, calling his mother and his siblings twice a week. "I would e-mail him and he would call me," said his mother. "He loved his family .

• Sgt. Shin W. Kim joined the Army in 2005 and the 2nd Brigade Combat Team last August. He was deployed to Iraq for the first time last October as a health care specialist. No further information was available about Kim on Monday night.

• Pfc. Cory F. Hiltz, 20, of La Verne, Calif., joined the military last February and the 2nd Brigade Combat Team in July.

Rolfing was killed June 30.

The 29-year-old from Sioux Falls, S.D., graduated from Vassar College in 2000 with a degree in astrophysics. He played soccer in college and, after graduation, coached soccer at various places, including Currey College in Boston.

"He wanted to be a Green Beret," said his father, Rex Rolfing. "He always chooses the highest mountain to climb."

"He was like MacGyver - he was very intelligent," Rex Rolfing said.

Robb Rolfing also had a sense of humor. A few years ago, when he missed a friend's wedding because of his deployment, he sent a life-size cardboard standup photo of himself. His friends still display the "cardboard Robb" at Fourth of July parties.