|
|
|
(Photo: AP/Centre Daily Times)
|
The mother of Army Capt. Tristan Aitken, 31, of State College, Pa., said she and her son clashed on the merits of war in Iraq, but the two always found room for each other's opinions.
"He told me it was his job," Ruth Aitken said. "He thought the protesters should say what they believed, but he had to do what he had to do, too."
She said her son was killed April 4, 2003, by a rocket-propelled grenade in an attack that injured at least two other soldiers. The U.S. Department of Defense confirmed the death April 7.
Aitken grew up just blocks away from Pennsylvania State University, where his mother taught for more than a decade before leaving to do private consulting.
Ruth Aitken said her son always did best in a highly structured environment, so she wasn't surprised that he found himself in the Army. "He graduated straight from Boy Scouts and merit badges to ROTC and medals," she said.
Aitken came from a military family - his father spent 20 years in the U.S. Navy Reserves and his younger sister was commissioned as a second lieutenant after completing ROTC.
He served in Korea and in Kosovo, where he was in charge of supply inventory and worked with medical units.
|
|
|
