Fort Riley/Wamego, Kansas Soldier Killed in Iraq

WHITE HALL, Ark. - An Army sergeant from Pine Bluff who was stationed at Ft. Riley died Saturday in a roadside bombing and gunfight in Baghdad, the Defense Department said Monday.

Sgt. 1st Class James D. Doster, 37, served as a convoy leader in Iraq, his mother, Billie Doster, said Monday.

Doster, a White Hall High School graduate, is survived by his wife Amanda, and two young daughters, Kathryn, 6, and Grace, 3, who live in Wamego.

''Kathryn was counting down the days until he was supposed to be home,'' Billie Doster said. ''She doesn't really understand. All she says is, 'It's not fair.' They had so many plans for when he came home.''

Doster served in the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, based at Fort Riley, Kan., before the unit was deployed to Iraq.

He left for Iraq in February. He had joined the Army 17 years ago during his second year at Hendrix College and served mostly as a recruiter, Billie Doster said. Doster also served in the Gulf War, she said.

''It's so easy to read 'an American soldier was killed' in the papers. You don't really make the connection,'' Billie Doster said, quietly weeping. ''When it's your own, you find it a lot harder.

''His wife is devastated,'' she said, ''but is clinging to the knowledge that ... he died doing something he believed in.''

To date 133 soldiers and 2 airmen from Ft. Riley have been killed. That number includes 11 reserve members who trained there.