Jeffrey B. Starr

The last time Jeffrey B. Starr talked to his friend Adam Nourigat, he was asking for a secret ride from the airport so he could surprise his girlfriend. "He was always such a good friend to everybody," Nourigat said. "He just always wanted to get back home to his friends." 

Starr, 22, of Snohomish, Wash., was killed May 30 by small-arms fire during combat operations near Ramadi. He was based at Camp Pendleton. 

Starr played soccer and went to church youth group meetings in high school and joined the military in March 2001. 

He had several close calls in his three tours in Iraq, including when he got caught behind enemy lines and had his armored vehicle hit by rocket-propelled grenades. "He said there was so many close calls when he was in Fallujah ... that they just stopped counting," said his father, Brian. Starr was due home in June and had enrolled at Everett Community College, where he wanted to study psychology to prepare for a career in law enforcement. His mother Shellie was getting ready for him to move into the basement apartment of the family's home. "I was measuring where I was going to put things," she said.

Published by The Washington Post on Jun. 1, 2005.