Fountain – Jason Obert was a can-do guy.
“He would help you out with anything,” said El Paso County sheriff’s Deputy Isaac Petterson. “He’d move your couch. He’d follow you into the roughest of SWAT calls. Any time you asked him for anything, he’d make it happen.”
Obert, 29, of Fountain, was one of the 11 civilians who died in Iraq on Thursday when insurgents shot down a Russian- made helicopter with a missile.
Obert quit his job as a sheriff’s deputy in February to take a job with Blackwater Security Consulting, a Raleigh, N.C.-based security contractor. A former military policeman, Obert had the skills for the mission: provide private security for American diplomats and dignitaries.
On the 19th day of what was to be a year-long tour, the helicopter went down in flames.
Friends said Friday that Obert took the job with Blackwater because he thought the high, tax-free wages would help his family – wife Jessica and sons Cameron, 8, and Tyler, 6.
“When I talked to Jason about his decision to go over there, I never got the sense that he was doing it for the high pay,” said El Paso County sheriff’s Lt. Rob King, head of the department’s court transport unit.
“I did get the sense that he was doing it because he felt it was an opportunity to do something for his family – provide his children with a college education, make it so that his wife and he could live comfortably.”
Raised in Sheridan, Wyo., Obert met his wife while the two served in the Army, including a stint at Fort Carson. He joined the sheriff’s department in September 2001, and became a member of the Special Response Team, which is sent to handle disruptive prisoners or riots in the jail.
“You could not have found a finer deputy sheriff, Special Response Team member or person,” King said. “He understood that we deal with violent people every day. But he was always able to do so with a personal manner. He was respectful and kind to everyone.”
Obert did not go to Blackwater alone. He went with his friend and former El Paso County sheriff’s deputy Mark Bynum. Though the two served in the same unit in Iraq, Bynum was not aboard the flight.
Friends said Obert often spoke lovingly of his family. He bought four-wheelers for his wife and the boys, and when they had the chance, they would hit the trails near the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve.
“He was a wonderful father, husband. He would help a friend out in a second,” said Jeff Schulz, a friend and deputy sheriff. “He was always smiling, no matter if he had a good day or a bad day, he was always smiling.”
Staff writer Erin Emery can be reached at 719-522-1360 or eemery@denverpost.com
