Another Lost Cincinnati Son

Army Pvt. Branden Haunert is the 4,080th U.S. service member to be killed in the Iraq war,and the first from the Cincinnati area in almost a year.... but he's so much more than a number.

He is a son and brother- one of six boys in the Haunert family.

He is a Sycamore High School graduate, and former 3rd basemen for the Sycamore baseball team. The team, which includes his brother, Andrew, dedicated Monday's game to Branden's memory. A game, I might add, that they won. A game played against cross-town rival, Anderson, a school which has also lost a former student to the Global War on Terror.

He is a University of Cincinnati graduate.

He joined the Army to find his way, and to gain the discipline and direction the military offers so many young adults. His Dad believes Branden could have made the Army a career, and noted that he'd been recommended for Ranger School. And he because of this, he knows his son died doing something that he believed in, and wanted to do.

He had only been in Iraq for 5 weeks, with the 101st Airborne, when he was killed by a roadside bomb.

And above all, Branden is an American Soldier. Death can never take that away.

Rest in peace.. We're all so proud of you, and we'll be there to provide the support your family needs.