David Roger Staats
Staff Sergeant, U. S. Army
Operation Iraqi Freedom

David Roger Staats was born on 22 August 1976 in Norfolk, VA. As a child, David would speed around the house pretending to be a fire truck as he dreamt of becoming a fireman or paramedic. Instead, he chose to be in the military after graduating from Cactus High School in Glendale, AZ, in 1995.

Military Service

Although David idolized his dad, who had served in the U.S. Air Force, he chose the U.S. Army.

In 2002, he was sent to Kuwait where he did a year's tour and the next year he was sent to Iraq. When he returned, he decided to leave the military, but the military had changed him. He was quiet, more serious, and more in control of his emotions. He worked as a civilian mechanic for a time but decided to re-enlist with the Army. He liked the military - it was his life.

SSG Staats was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas. Staats died of injuries sustained when his Humvee struck an improvised explosive device while on mounted patrol in Taji, Iraq. He was only a little over two weeks into his third tour of Iraq when he was killed.

David was a funny person who could make anyone laugh. His wife, Meagan, recalls that even when he was telling her he loved her, he had his own way. He'd say, "I love you more than hodgy Mountain Dew, I love you more than almond rocha, I love you more than a Very Brady Christmas." A week before his death, members of his family had a premonition of his death. Everyone had a gut feeling….but no one could figure out why.

Death and Burial

Staff Sergeant David Roger Staats died on 16 December 2006 from wounds sustained while on patrol. He is buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Colorado Springs, CO.

Postscript:

On 28 January 2007, forty-three days after SSG Staats was killed in Iraq, his father, Roger Staats, was beaten to death after stopping to help a young woman who was in an argument with her boyfriend on the side of the road.