Sgt. Isaac Palomarez of Loveland, an offensive lineman with a state champion high school football team and a walking encyclopedia of the history he loved to read, died in Afghanistan on Friday when his patrol was attacked.
Palomarez, 26, died when his 101st Airborne infantry team was hit by an improvised explosive device and small-arms fire, according to base public relations officials at Fort Campbell, Ky.
Palomarez had been in Afghanistan since March, said his father, Candido Palomarez Jr. His son, an avid skier in Colorado, sent periodic e-mails describing his surroundings.
“He said, too bad there’s a war going on, this is a beautiful country. If it wasn’t for the war, it would be a nice place to visit,” Candido Palomarez said Saturday.
Isaac graduated from Loveland High School in 2001 and went to Colorado State University for a few years, his father said. He was more interested in having a good time than in rigorous study, his father said. His main devotion at the time was to the Colorado Avalanche hockey team, and he and friends joined a roller hockey league.
Isaac was the youngest of the four sons. He chose to hang out with a small handful of very close friends rather than big groups, Candido said; he had a quiet sense of humor and always had a book in his hand when walking around the house.
His son had successfully completed a one-year Army assignment to Iraq from 2005 to 2006, Candido said.
Joining the military was not the family’s first choice for Isaac, but they had “endorsed” the decision.
“He believed in what he was doing,” Candido said. “He said in an e-mail that on Sept. 11, we were attacked on our own soil, and we couldn’t just sit by and not do anything about it.”
Palomarez is survived by his father; his mother, Elma; brothers Candido III of Minnesota, Omar and Rene, both of Texas; and many nieces and nephews.
