Springs soldier killed by small-arms fire

Small-arms fire took the life of a Colorado Springs soldier in Iraq this week.

Maj. Andrew Olmsted, 37, died Thursday in As Sadiyah, Iraq, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit. Also killed was Capt. Thomas J. Casey, 32, of Albuquerque.

Olmsted deployed in July and served as a reservist with the Military Transition Team, 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.

Olmsted is survived by his wife of 10 years, Amanda Wilson of Colorado Springs.

She was having trouble with the news on Friday. She said her mother, who flew in Friday to help, was “trying to be brave.”

Olmsted was born in Bangor, Maine, but grew up in Massachusetts, where he signed up for the Massachusetts National Guard in 1988.

He enlisted in the Army in 1992 after graduating from Clark University in Worcester, Mass., with a degree in history and government.

Stationed at Fort Carson from 1997 to 2002, Olmsted became a reservist in March 2002.