Three mourned at Fort Lewis

FORT LEWIS — The Stryker brigade based at this Army post south of Tacoma lost friends and comrades when three soldiers died in an accident in Iraq, the unit’s commander says.

Three of the 19 soldiers in two of the new Stryker combat vehicles died and a fourth was injured when an embankment collapsed and the vehicles fell into an irrigation canal on Monday.

The Department of Defense identified the dead Thursday as Staff Sgt. Steven H. Bridges, 33, of Tracy, Calif.; Spc. Joseph M. Blickenstaff, 23, of Corvallis, Ore.; and Spc. Christopher J. Rivera Wesley, 26, of Portland, Ore.

They were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division.

"The night of Dec. 8 and the days following were difficult for the Arrowhead Brigade. We didn’t just lose three soldiers; we lost brothers in arms. They were friends," Col. Michael Rounds said in a prepared statement read Thursday at Fort Lewis by Lt. Col. Stephen Barger.

No relatives of the dead attended the news conference, but Barger read statements from Blickenstaff’s and Bridges’ relatives, who expressed sadness over their losses and those of the other families.

"My heart goes out to his squad and the families of the others involved. They are a part of our family, too. I know the devastation they are feeling," Bridges’ wife, Debra, said.

Bridges grew up in Tracy, where his parents Loretta and Sheldon Bridges still live.

"I want people to remember that he was always persistent and he loved everybody," his mother said. "He put his all into all he did. When he went into the military, he put everything into it."

A memorial ceremony for the three who died was scheduled Friday at the brigade’s base camp.

The brigade left Fort Lewis last month on its first deployment with the new vehicles. The deaths are the first involving any of the 300 medium-weight vehicles, each costing $2 million, since they first entered service about a year and a half ago.