Army Specialist Cristian Rojas-Gallego

Remember Our Heroes

Army Specialist Cristian Rojas-Gallego, 24, of Loganville, Ga.

Spc. Rojas-Gallego was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.; died Aug. 2, 2007 in Baghdad of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Also killed were Staff Sgt. Fernando Santos and Spc. Eric D. Salinas.

Getting it right about Cristian Rojas-GallegoPosted by Mike Gilbert @ 05:30:30 pm

Megan Rojas-Gallego called me Tuesday afternoon to take issue with information that I printed in this morning's story about her husband, Spc. Cristian Rojas-Gallego, 24, one of three Stryker soldiers killed in a bombing Thursday in Baghdad.

I reported that the soldier's brother had told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that after serving a hitch in the Marine Corps and then trying life as a civilian, he rejoined the military – the Army this time – because he hadn't been able to make ends meet and Megan was expecting their third child.

That's not how it was at all, Megan told me.

"My husband was a patriot, OK?" she said. "He joined the Army because I wanted to join. He told me, 'No, honey. You're too beautiful. Let me go.' He was the bread winner. He didn't want me to do it."

What's more, she said they didn't learn she was pregnant until after they arrived at Fort Lewis. And he was doing just fine income-wise in the work he'd found after the Marines.

Megan Rojas-Gallego said readers should not draw the conclusion that they were desperate or poor or lacking in options. Her husband served three combat tours in Iraq as a Marine and willingly returned as a soldier, she said.

"He was a perfect husband. A wonderful man. A wonderful father."

Army Specialist Cristian Rojas-Gallego was killed in action on 8/2/07.