Spc. Dustin Kendall, RIP

Sad news courtesy of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette:

Spc. Dustin Kendall...21, was killed in Baqouba, Iraq, on Sunday in a noncombat-related accident when his humvee struck an M 1 A 2 Abrams tank and rolled over, according to the Department of Defense. He was assigned to the Army’s 1 st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, 3 rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4 th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.

Kendall spent about two years in the Army Reserve before signing up for active duty last summer. He was deployed to Iraq in November, Ballew said.

“He was very outgoing, very flirtatious,” Ballew said. “He was just a happy-go-lucky guy.”

She said he had studied business but was considering a career in golf-course design. “He loved to golf.... He was very competitive in sports and in girls.”

Parrish recalls him purposely driving a golf cart into a pond one chilly February day.

A memorial service will be held for Kendall on Saturday in South Carolina, where one of his sisters lives. Bradford said about six or seven employees are planning to attend.

Kendall is the 39 th soldier with Arkansas ties to have died in the United States’ wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — 36 in Iraq and three in Afghanistan. To date 2,225 military personnel have died in the war in Iraq.