Based: Ft. Bragg, N.C.
1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division
Supporting: Operation Enduring Freedom
Died: March 3, 2008
Sabari district, Afghanistan
Single
Gender: Male
Hometown: Sonora
High School: Sonora High (Sonora)
Burial: Dambacher Mountain Memorial Cemetery, Sonora, Calif.
Army Sgt. Robert T. Rapp was one of two paratroopers killed March 3 by a suicide bomber in Sabari, Afghanistan, southeast of Kabul. A car rigged with explosives drove into the gates of an Afghan government building that the soldiers were guarding. Also killed was Army Cpl. Steven R. Koch, 23, of Milltown, NJ.Do read the entire LA Times article about Army Sergeant Robert T. Rapp here, find more at Military Times, the Modesto Bee and visit Sergeant Rapp's Guest Book.
Rapp was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division at Ft. Bragg, N.C.
"Let the world know I died doing what I love," he wrote to his family in that prophetic letter. "Dying for my country is the greatest honor I could ever receive."
Rapp was killed less than a month before his 15-month deployment was scheduled to end. He had planned to enter college and major in kinesiology. He wanted to become a physical therapist, get married and raise a family.
But those plans for the future came second to Rapp's devotion to his nation. When he was 18, he left high school six months early to enlist out of what friends and family called a deep-rooted sense of patriotism and duty burning in him after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
He served stints in Iraq and Afghanistan, and experienced the loss of four close friends.
He is survived by his parents, Jennifer and Ted, and older brother Pat.
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| Army Cpl. Steven R. Koch |
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