Rest in peace to the fallen and all prayers and condolences go out to the family and friends of these brave men. –Matt
Edit: July 9, 2011–Ryan Lozier was awarded the Defense Medal of Freedom medal posthumously. Here is the link.
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Middletown grad killed in Afghanistan
Ryan Lozier died ‘doing what he loved’
By Rick McCrabb, Staff Writer
May 11, 2010
MIDDLETOWN — Two days before Mother’s Day, Viki Lozier was notified that her oldest son, Ryan Lozier, 30, a 1998 Middletown High School graduate, was killed by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan while working for Global Security Solutions, a private security company.
Viki Lozier said her son served eight years in the Army Ranger Battalion in Afghanistan and Iraq. He worked for a year in the private sector, then joined the security company.
“He told me, ‘Mom, this is what I’m meant to do. I want to save people and this is what I love,’ ” she said Monday, May 10.
“As a mother, I have to honor that. I can’t be mad. There is nobody to blame. That’s how he lived. He died doing what he loved.”
She described her son as “big, bold and bright,” and he didn’t do anything “half-measured, even when he was getting in trouble.”
Lozier, a standout athlete, played football at Madison High School, then transferred to Middletown High School for his junior and senior years.