Carson soldier remembered for desire to be dad

Dylan Reid knew his junior year of high school that the English assignments piling up on his desk would never be finished, so he wrote about it.

In stunning prose, the teenager politely penned a paragraph-long letter informing his teacher.

He wrote this, said his sister, Erika Reid, just to make sure he and this teacher were on the same page.

He got an A.

“He was a smartass,” said Erika Reid, with a chuckle. “And he was really funny.”

Those bouts of laughter have helped manage her sorrow. Pfc. Dylan Reid died Saturday of a heart attack while serving in Amarah, Iraq, Erika Reid said. He was 24.

Stationed at Fort Carson, he deployed to Iraq on March 13, tasked with maintaining vehicles with the 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division.

It was his first deployment since joining the Army in September 2008.

In that time, he had received the Army Commendation Medal and the Army Good Conduct Medal, among other awards.

Erika Reid said he went to the aid station Saturday complaining of chest pains. As a doctor came to check him, Dylan went into cardiac arrest.

“(Dylan) was the baby,” said Erika Reid, from her parents house in a suburb of Springfield, Mo., his home of record. “Everyone kind of anticipates ‘Oh you take that risk when they sign up.’ There’s always that risk.

“It was more of a ‘What do you mean it’s a heart attack?’”

Dylan Reid was born in Ironwood, Mich., but moved to Arizona at age 9. His family eventually settled in Lake Havasu City, Ariz., where he graduated from Desert Technology High School.

Since then, he garnered a few reputations.

He was sharp with tools, often buying trucks, fixing them and then taking them to the desert where speed limits are scarce.

He was known for blasting the band Alkaline Trio from his speakers, reading Stephen King novels and getting tattoos, his first being a four-leaf clover at age 18.

Friends also remembered him for being loyal.

Jake Ring, who knew Dylan since he was in eighth grade, called him “a real man,” one who enjoyed a cold beer at the end of the day and “had my back.”

Mason Dosey, 22, agreed. Friends since high school, Dosey turned to Dylan Reid whenever bullies walked toward him.

“He was a very big guy who didn’t like to fight but he knew he could settle it if he needed to... He didn’t let his friends get picked on.”

But Dylan Reid was most widely known for a decision he made before graduating high school.

“He’s always wanted a family,” Erika Reid said. “He didn’t even care if he got married, but he definitely wanted kids.”

This past year, he got both.

Before deploying, he tied the knot with Alecia Reid, who planned to go apartment hunting in Colorado Springs later this year.

And on Sept. 14, he looked on as his daughter, Avery Lynn Reid, was born.

The “smart ass,” it seemed, was growing up — something his friends noticed.

Less than a week ago, Dylan Reid logged on to the Internet and talked with a few people, including Dosey. Their conversation skipped along like it always did. Then Dylan Reid started talking about Avery.

“He couldn’t believe how much he could love something,” Dosey said. “You never really know until you watch a child be born how much you can really love somebody.

“He was really looking forward to being a dad.”

Reid is the 318^th Fort Carson soldier to die since the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003. This year, Fort Carson has lost 19 -- 17 in Afghanistan and two in Iraq.

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Call the writer at 476-1654.

Reporter Maria St.Louis-Sanchez contributed to this report.