The soldier's brother, Staff Sgt. Alex Hartley, 25, said "several hundred" people had visited the Hartley farm home since news of the death was received.

The Army said Jared Hartley was killed when an improvised explosive device was detonated near his vehicle.

Hartley, the son of Doug and Kathie Hartley of Newkirk, was assigned to the 125th Forward Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division, in Fort Riley, Kan.

On his second tour in Iraq, he was a turret gunner on a Humvee that was hit near Taji, Iraq, his brother said.

A Fort Riley spokesman said Monday that Hartley was the 55th Fort Riley soldier to die in connection with the hostilities in Iraq.

Memorial services are scheduled for 3 p.m. Thursday at Fort Riley, the spokesman said.

Funeral services are pending at Miller-Stahl Funeral Home in Newkirk.

"We just hope it doesn't happen to anybody," Doug Hartley said before referring questions to his son Alex Hartley, who is stationed in Virginia.

Alex Hartley said, "It is going to get worse before it gets better, but, luckily, we've got a great deal of community support."

He estimated that "probably a couple of hundred" people from Newkirk and nearby areas had been to the family home by noon Monday.

The visits "give us the chance to talk about other things," he said.

The visitors brought food and offered to cook and mow the lawn, Alex Hartley said.

Family members from as far away as Great Britain are planning to come to this Kay County community on U.S. 77 near the Kansas border, he said.

His mother, a native of Great Britain, is a naturalized U.S. citizen.

Several relatives and friends from Oklahoma and other states have already arrived, Alex Hartley said.

Jared Hartley was a 2002 graduate of Newkirk High School, where he played football and basketball, his brother said.

He joined the Army shortly after he graduated from high school.

Rob Martindale 581-8367
rob.martindale@tulsaworld.com