Hometown: Knoxville, TN
Branch: U.S. Army 
Unit: B Troop, 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, NC
Military Honors: Bronze Star, Purple Heart
Date of Sacrifice: April 23, 2007 - KIA in Sadah, Diyala Province, Iraq
Age: 20
Conflict: Iraq War, 2003-2011

Michael Rodriguez, a fourth-generation soldier, was born in Syracuse, New York on May 6, 1986. He moved around the country with his family—living in Sanford, North Carolina and later settling in Knoxville, Tennessee. There he was a student at Berean Christian School and Central High School. As a teen, Rodriguez attended Chilhowee Hills Baptist Church in Knoxville.

With his family history of military service, Michael always knew he wanted to be a soldier. He joined the Navy JROTC and left school when he turned 18 to join the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

As a paratrooper and cavalry scout, Rodriguez had realized his dream of becoming a soldier and was deployed to Iraq in August of 2006 as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

In January of 2007, Rodriguez returned to Knoxville on leave and proposed to his girlfriend, Caitlin Stone. The couple kept their engagement a secret, waiting until Michael could ask her father for permission.

After his stateside leave, Spc. Rodriguez rejoined his 82nd Airborne Bravo Troop in the town of As Sadah, in Iraq’s Diyala province (northeast of Baghdad). The military post was near an area of intense fighting between U.S. troops against Sunni Arab insurgents and al Qaeda militants.

On April 23, 2007, two suicide truck bombs struck the 82nd Airborne’s base in Diyala. The Department of Defense reported that one of the trucks exploded along an outer barrier, while the other blew up 30 meters from the base building. “The explosive blast from the second truck ruptured the wall of the patrol base building, collapsing the second floor and causing the majority of the soldier casualties”.

The attack took the lives of nine U.S. soldiers—including Spc. Rodriguez, age 20—and wounded 20 others. Most of the wounded later returned to duty.

Rodriguez’s family says that in letters home, Michael always mentioned the children of Iraq. After his death, his family raised funds to help the children he’d written about. The students of Dur-Mandali Primary School for Girls in Balad-Ruz—part of the area Rodriguez patrolled—received financial assistance along with a photo of Spc. Rodriguez.

“For this to go to an all-girls school was very heart-warming for us,” said Michael’s father, George, “especially after hearing how some of the insurgents have been targeting schools over there.”

For his service and sacrifice, Spc. Michael J. Rodriguez was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star.

Sources
Card photo and story details submitted by Ms. Lorie Southerland, Spc. Rodriguez’s Gold Star Mother.
Rueters: Al Qaeda claims killing of 9 U.S. troops in Iraq
The Fayetteville Observer: Our children died doing what they loved
WRAL: Fallen Paratroopers To Be Honored at Fort Bragg
East Tennessee Veterans Memorial Association: Michael J. Rodriguez
Military Times, Honor the Fallen: Army Spc. Michael J. Rodriguez
Burial Site: Find a Grave