Baghdad mortar attack kills 2 Fort Carson soldiers

Two Fort Carson soldiers, one in his third tour in Iraq, the other nine months into his first enlistment, died Sunday in a mortar attack in Baghdad, the Army reported Tuesday.

Spc. Justin R. Blackwell, 27, of Paris, Tenn., and Pvt. Jeremy S. Bohannon, 18, of Bon Aqua, Tenn., died of wounds suffered in the attack, the Department of Defense said. Bohannon and Blackwell were walking at their forward operating base when attacked, said Blackwell’s girlfriend, Allyson Riggen, who lives in Craig.

The soldiers, both with the 59th Military Police Company, 759th Military Police Battalion, 89th Military Police Brigade, had been in Iraq since July 7. Bohannon was a driver and Blackwell was a gunner, Riggen said.

Blackwell grew up in a military family and planned to make the Army his career, Riggen said.

“He believed very much in what he was doing,” she said. “He couldn’t wait to go over there, because he thought he was helping people.”

He enlisted in 2000. His father and three brothers also are serving or have served in the military. One of his brothers is stationed at Fort Carson with the 4th Infantry Division.

Blackwell was known as a jokester who loved country music and pro wrestling, Riggen said. The couple had their first child, Joshua, on March 16 and planned to have two more, she said. Blackwell had two daughters, 8 and 2, from previous marriages.

On his MySpace page, Blackwell said:

“I’m a simple boy from Tennessee who likes country music and playing with my kids. I love you Abby, Mackenzie, and Josh. Daddy misses you all very much and I’ll be home with you guys before you know it.”

Bohannon, who enlisted in the Army in November, also had a MySpace page, on which he wrote that he was born on a Navy base in Cuba. He said he enjoyed hanging out with friends and watching horror and action movies.

“My heroes are the soldiers that have gone before me and died,” he wrote. “And the ones that came home.”

Bohannon’s friend, Alexandria Stull of Waverly, Tenn., said he was a constant churchgoer, and he had plans to become a preacher when he returned from Iraq.

“He would be upset when he could not go to church,” said Stull, 17.

She said that Bohannon seemed happy while he was stationed at Fort Carson, but he said he missed his parents, older brother and younger sister.

“He was a good person. He was always there,” Stull said. “I could always call him when I was fighting with someone. He would listen and try to cheer me up.

The soldiers’ deaths raise the number of Fort Carson soldiers killed in Iraq since the war began in 2003 to 219.