No one in his family could stand the thought of Army Sgt. Corey Dan going to Iraq a second time. A baby boy was on the way for the high-spirited young man, and a future in law enforcement awaited him back home in western Maine.
After he arrived in Iraq in December, his reassurances that he was safe working a desk job was some consolation - until now.
Dan, 22, was killed on Monday, according to military representatives who visited his parents in Norway. On Wednesday, the family still did not know how Dan died except that he was in the line of fire. Anger began to mingle with grief.
Nine-year-old Tristan Kilgore is overcome with the loss of the half-brother he adored so much and who adored him back, tattooing the boy's name and birth date on his forearm, said their grandmother, Sharon Bouchard of South Paris.
"He wants to be president because he wants to make things right so other brothers don't get killed," Bouchard said.
Bouchard said she learned recently that Dan had planned a trip to Maine soon to surprise his mother - as well as a visit to Indiana to spend time with his newborn son, Austin, whom he had never seen.
Now the family is making funeral arrangements as they await the return of his body in the next week.
Relatives hope to celebrate his life at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School in South Paris, where Dan first entertained thoughts of joining the military.
Dan was a scrawny, bespectacled senior who preferred drama to sports when he joined Lynda Knowlton's law enforcement class. Still, his leadership qualities stood out in a class filled with other Type A students who dreamed of careers as police detectives and Army lieutenants, Knowlton said.
Dan thought about being a police officer in his hometown. But he didn't have the grades for scholarships or the money for school. His mother, a convenience store clerk, and his stepfather, a hardwood floor installer, were just scraping by, Bouchard said.
Dan met recruiters in Knowlton's class and began to see the military as his opportunity. He hounded his parents to let him enlist, and Bouchard said they agreed after failing to change his mind. He entered boot camp in September 2001, then moved to Fort Campbell, Ky., to join the 101st Airborne Division and train as a paratrooper.
When Knowlton met up with him again months later, she saw a man who had added muscle as well as confidence and faith in Christianity.
"He had really matured and come into his own," Knowlton said.
During a handful of breaks when he got to come home, Dan made it a point to visit Knowlton's class each time. He dazzled the students with stories about his first deployment to Iraq, in 2003, and led physical training exercises.
Sometimes he would have the class jog past the home of his grandfather, a Vietnam War veteran, shouting military cadences. Other times, he had the students do belly crawls, using their elbows.
"He told me I was wicked good," said John Ayotte, a 16- year-old junior from Oxford. "He said I could be a sniper. I liked him from then on out."
Knowlton said Dan loved life, and after high school, where he often took on the thankless role of being a girl's best friend, he began to date.
He met the mother of his child while he was stationed in Kentucky. He was excited about the pregnancy and wanted to travel to Indianapolis, where she was having the baby. But Army officials did not release him because it was too close to his departure date for Iraq, Bouchard said.
It was hard for Dan to leave again because he didn't want to be away from loved ones.
Bouchard said Dan thought the length of his four-year stint would be shortened if he agreed to a second tour in Iraq, allowing him to enter college or police academy sooner. He also would have more money in the bank.
Knowlton, a former military...
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