The Antlers private
was fatally wounded in
eastern Afghanistan.
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Jerod
Dennis' parents were worried
when he decided to join the Army, but they knew it was important to him, so they supported
his decision.
Now their worst fears have
materialized.
The 19-year-old private was fatally wounded Friday in a firefight with rebel fighters in eastern Afghanistan.
"It wasn't what I wanted him
to do," his mother, Jane Dennis,
said Monday in a telephone interview from her home in Antlers, located in Pushmataha
County. "I just wanted him to be
safe. But it was so important to
him, I supported him 100 percent."
Dennis' father, Jerry Dennis,
said he urged his son to really
think through the decision to
join the military but didn't try to
dissuade him.
"It was his decision," he said.
"He was committed. He wanted
to do his part."
Jerod Dennis decided to join
the Army shortly before the
Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
He was in basic training just a
month after his May 2002 graduation from Antlers High School,
where he was a standout tennis
player and known for occasional
classroom pranks.
He played doubles tennis and
his team made it to the state
championships twice.
His mother said he may also
hold the school record for most
paddlings from a principal.
"He got into trouble but it
wasn't bad trouble," Jane Dennis
said. "It was just pranks and
things like that."
Dennis was assigned to the
3rd Battalion,
504th Parachute
Infantry Regiment, based at Fort
Bragg, N.C. By January he had
been deployed overseas and he
told his family he would be going to Afghanistan.
His parents worried, but he
was excited.
"He was looking forward to it,"
his mother said. "He wasn't the
least bit fearful. He was just
ready to do his job he'd been
trained to do."
"Things seemed like they'd
settled down in Afghanistan," his
father said, "but I knew there
was still danger."
Jerod Dennis kept in touch
with his parents by telephone
and mail.
He would ask about family
and friends, and want to know
what was going on back home.
Father and son were close.
They once had taken a four-wheel, all-terrain vehicle on a
hunting trip, got it stuck and
had to push and pull it more
than a mile to get it home, encountering a hill and wet,
swampy land on the way back.
Jerry Dennis recalled telling
the young man that not all fathers and sons have similar experiences. Jerod Dennis, pulling
the vehicle, replied:
"Yeah, Dad, we're really bonding now."
On April 2, he spoke to his father for the last time. He said
he was bored and looking forward to an upcoming mission
near the Pakistani border.
