Putting out fire

Image courtesy: Facebook

After serving as a volunteer firefighter in high school, it was impossible for 1st Lt. Robert Bennedsen to stand by as the world burned. The educated resident of Washington's relatively isolated Vashon Island joined the Army ROTC while attending Seattle University, later graduating with a business degree and training that further enabled him to help others. 1st Lt. Bennedsen brought those skills overseas to Germany, and eventually the battlefields of Afghanistan.

"I think he enjoyed his job way too much and I remember him bothering Sgt. Schreck about going to Ranger School all the time," Dave Evans wrote on Facebook. "The best quality about him is that he always put his soldiers first and treated them as the same way he would like to be treated."

It's hard to know exactly what happened during a chaotic Sunday in Qalat, Afghanistan. According to an account from the soldier's aunt in The News Tribune, troops in the 2nd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment were hit by a roadside bomb planted by terrorists on July 18. Danny Serna's article said Bonnie Bennedsen was told her nephew jumped in and out of an ambulance to assist wounded soldiers when he stepped on another improvised explosive device. In just a few tragic moments, a volunteer firefighter who had transformed into a volunteer warrior was lost.

"You were truly like a brother to me. I still cannot believe that you are gone bud," Travis Wantz posted on Facebook. "It will not be the same without you when we come home."

Bennedsen leaves behind his parents and a sister, who live in Washington state. The former high school football star will be saluted by family, friends, soldiers, and firefighters on Sunday at his high school in Vashon. The soldier was also remembered by fellow troops at a service in Germany last week.

There was a special place inside many hearts for 1st Lt. Robert Bennedsen. As Joanne Aldworth Green explained, his warm, genuine personality even touched people he barely knew.

"My husband had the pleasure of meeting with you on the way to your destination overseas, sharing a few meals with you and some card games. A new friend he found, taken too soon. Although he may have not known you long, he is still deeply saddened by your loss. One of our heroes on earth is now our hero in Heaven."