His friends said it was foolish to go back to Iraq. They reminded Todd James Venette that he had already served there as a U.S. Marine.
He had done his duty, they told him.
His family was just as adamant, warning the 35-year-old alum of Centaurus High School in Lafayette that the lucrative paycheck to provide security to American contractors in Baghdad wasn’t worth the risk.
But it was more than the money that brought the Colorado native back to Baghdad – it was a passionate desire to protect and help people, his family said.
“I was the aunt who told him not to be a hero, and ‘if you’re going over there, learn to duck,”‘ said Linda Trahern of Mead. “But he said he felt he had to finish a job that needed to done.”
Venette was expected to return home soon, but those plans were ended Saturday when two suicide bombers driving cars packed with explosives rammed into Venette’s U.S. security convoy on a bustling street in downtown Baghdad, killing 22 people.
U.S. Embassy officials would not identify the dead, but family confirmed that Venette was one of two Americans killed. Three other Americans were injured, and 20 Iraqis were killed, officials said.
“He was a good man who loved his country, his family, his friends, and he was a strong Christian,” Trahern said. “What greater tribute can be given?”
Venette was born in Boulder and grew up in Lafayette and Louisville.
He served four years in the Marines, where in the early 1990s he was stationed in parts of war-torn Africa. When the war in Iraq started, Venette re-enlisted with the Marine reserves and served for six months as a sergeant.
After his first stint in the military, he moved to Arkansas to live near his mother. He joined the fire department in nearby Russellville and volunteered as a deputy sheriff.
“We didn’t lose a friend; we lost a brother,” Russellville fire Capt. Dan Polzcynski said. “Todd didn’t believe – it’s human nature not to believe – that something like this would ever happen to him.”
Venette was fearless as a firefighter, and in his free time he helped kids in the community, Polzcynski said. Upon moving to Arkansas, he learned that none of the schools in the area offered collegiate wrestling.
A prep wrestler, Venette helped his friend and fellow ex-Marine, Terry Davis, start a wrestling program at the local Boys and Girls Club.
“Todd was so committed to these kids, and they and everyone else in the area loved and respected him so much,” Davis said. “He’ll be so missed.”
Venette is survived by his father, Paul Venette of Brighton; mother Debby Casida and stepfather Dennis Casida of White Hall, Ark.; brother Chad Venette of Oregon; and grandparents Toots Venette of Louisville and Jim and Ruby Graham of Russellville, Ark.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
Staff writer Manny Gonzales can be reached at 303-820-1173 or mgonzales@denverpost.com.