The soldier, Spc. Ryan J. Cook, was killed while on a foot patrol in Kandahar province. The homemade explosive also injured a second soldier in the Fairbanks-based brigade, the Army says.
Cook is from Fort Walton Beach, Fla., where his parents were notified of his death late Sunday night, according to the Northwest Florida Daily News.
"He had the bluest eyes, the most disarming smile and the softest heart in the world," his mother, Kathleen Silva, told the paper.
Cook is the 14th soldier of the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry, to be killed in combat since the brigade began a one-year deployment in Afghanistan in mid-April. Seven of the deaths have occurred since mid-August.
Sgt. Rodolfo Rodriguez Jr., 28, from Pharr, Texas, was killed by the blast from a pressure-sensitive land mine last Wednesday, also while on a foot patrol. Cook joined the Army in March 2008, arriving in Alaska in May 2009, according to the Army. He previously served a one-year combat tour in Iraq.
He was the father of a 5-year-old girl, the Northwest Florida Daily News reported.
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