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Adam began preparing himself for the military in his youth. “Adam must have watched a million military movies,” Amanda said. “He would come home from school and say ‘Mom, I need some money to buy some Army books.’ He was growing up to go into the military, and he wanted to learn everything he could.”
Some of Adam’s and his father’s special times were spent on the lake. “We didn’t necessarily fish. It was to get away on the lake. It was so peaceful,” George said.
George, as a Staff Sergeant in the Army National Guard, saw duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said Adam needed to understand the perils he faced and took him aside after boot camp in Ft. Benning, Ga., to have “the military talk.” “I had to tell him what it was like, and he understood there would be a day he would be in Afghanistan. He looked a little taken aback about what I told him, but it didn’t change his mind. He never walked away from a challenge.”
George said he told Adam, “Son, I understand where your heart is. In 2004 I was going to Iraq, and I told Amanda I know I’m save,d and if I don’t come home I will see you in a better place. If I come home then it wasn’t my time for God to call me.”
Adam enlisted in the Army while his dad was in combat in the Iran/Afghanistan theater. Boot camp and rigorous Army training saw Adam go from 178 pounds to 130. “He turned what was left into sold muscle,” Amanda said.
Adam’s deployment to Italy en route to Afghanistan set off a mother’s intuition. “I had a grip in my heart, not for Adam, but for one of his ‘brothers’ fearing something was going to happen. When those two men in the military walked to my door, I knew why they were there. I just began crying and screaming.”
Amanda described her son as the strong, silent type. “He was caring, loving, compassionate, unselfish, courageous ... He had a beautiful smile and he was very happy, joked around with people and was very comfortable around them.” It’s the same sentiments officers in his unit shared at a memorial service in Vincenza, Italy Thursday morning.
U.S. Army Pfc. Adam Ross’ life was a love story – for God, family, country and for his childhood sweetheart, the girl he was going to marry.
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