2 Rangers from Fort Lewis die in Iraq

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Staff Sgt. Ricardo Barraza, 24, and Sgt. Dale G.M. Brehm, 23, were elite Army Rangers, experienced combat veterans serving their third deployment to Iraq from Fort Lewis, having also served three in Afghanistan.

Saturday, a day before the third anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the two members of Fort Lewis' 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment were killed by small-arms fire during a combat mission in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, Pentagon officials said Tuesday night.

The two Rangers were the 119th and 120th members of the armed forces with connections to Washington state to die in Iraq since the invasion began March 19, 2003. Of those, 118 have been killed since President Bush announced the end of major combat operations May 1, 2003.

Nationwide, more than 2,300 men and women in uniform have died since the war began.

Army news releases Tuesday night did not contain details of the operation or the location where the two men were killed.


	Barraza

Barraza's family told the Bakersfield Californian newspaper on Monday that he was shot and killed while helping to evacuate a building.

Barraza stayed to help another soldier when he was shot, his family said.

The 75th Ranger Regiment, which is based in Fort Bragg, N.C., while its 2nd Battalion component operates from Fort Lewis, is one of the Army's elite special operations units.


	Brehm

Brehm, a Ranger team leader, had served as a rifleman and grenadier.

Barraza joined the Army shortly after graduating from Shafter, Calif., High School in 1999, where he was a standout defensive back in football. In the Army, he had held every position in a Ranger rifle squad.

As a boy, Barraza helped an uncle, hardworking and uncomplaining, in Washington's asparagus fields, his family told the hometown newspaper. Barraza's mother said her son was due home in May, when he would have turned 25.

Brehm, whose hometown was Turlock, Calif., leaves his wife, Raini, of Steilacoom, near Fort Lewis, and his parents, William Brehm and Laura Williams of Turlock. None of his family members could be reached for comment.

Barraza, in addition to his parents, Francisco and Nina of Shafter, leaves four siblings, including a sister and brother in Sunnyside, and a fiancee, Maghan K. Herrington of Yakima, Army officials said.

P-I reporter Mike Barber can be reached at 206-448-8018 or mikebarber@seattlepi.com.

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