A deputy commander of Fort Carson’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team was killed, along with two other servicemen, by a roadside bomb in Baghdad on Thursday, the military said Monday.
Lt. Col. Eric J. Kruger, 40, of Garland, Texas, was assigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, at the post near Colorado Springs.
Also killed were Lt. Col. Paul J. Finken, 40, of Mason City, Iowa, and Staff Sgt. Joseph A. Gage, 28, of Modesto, Calif. Both were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky.
All three were riding in the same vehicle, the military said.
Kruger is the highest ranking soldier from Fort Carson to have died in Iraq; the next highest was a major, a base spokesperson said. He is the 174th soldier from Fort Carson to be killed in Iraq, spokeswoman Dee McNutt said.
Kruger’s mother, contacted in Frisco, Texas, declined to comment about her son until his wife feels it is time to speak publicly.
“I’m respecting the wishes of my daughter-in-law, as soon as she gives us the go-ahead we will call back to all the media,” Carol Ann Kruger said Monday. “Right now, everyone just needs to give us time.”
McNutt, who said she knew Kruger, said he was a “wonderful man and a great leader. Everyone who knew him loved him.”
Kruger had a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s of liberal arts from Southern Methodist University.
He entered the Army on Jan. 7, 1989, and completed airborne and Ranger training. He also held a combat infantry badge.
Kruger served in Bahrain from August 1997 through January 1998 and in Afghanistan from February 2005 to this February.
On one of these assignments, he was awarded the Bronze Star.
From Afghanistan, he joined the 2nd Infantry Division, 2nd Brigade at Fort Carson on Feb. 9.
Kruger left the Mountain Post with an advance team from the 2nd Brigade for Baghdad the last week of October.
He died just a few days after arriving.
Earlier this year, Kruger was interviewed by a CBS News crew doing a story about “stressed-out soldiers,” which cited statistics that showed more than 50,000 veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are believed to be suffering from mental health problems, mainly post traumatic stress disorder.
Kruger voiced his concern that soldiers weren’t seeking help because of fears of being ridiculed or facing reprisal, and he was a voice in urging veterans to get help.
“You don’t want a soldier not to seek help for anything,” he told CBS in July. “They’re our No. 1 asset. Leaders have to engage that every day – and in my experience here, we do.”
Staff writer Mike McPhee can be reached at 303-954-1409 or mmcphee@denverpost.com
