Air Force 1st Lt. Roslyn L. Schulte, 25, of St. Louis
1st Lt. Schulte was assigned to the Headquarters, Pacific Air Forces Command, Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii; died May 20, 2009 near Kabul, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device.
Honolulu Advertiser -- A Hickam Air Force Base officer has been killed in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said today.
1st Lt. Roslyn L. Schulte, 25, of St. Louis, Mo., died yesterday near Kabul of wounds suffered from an improvised explosive device. She was assigned to Headquarters, Pacific Air Forces Command, Hickam Air Force Base.
Schulte is the believed to be the first female graduate of the Air Force Academy ever to be killed by an enemy combatant, the Colorado Springs Gazette reported.
Another female graduate, 1st Lt. Laura Piper, died in the mid-90s from a friendly-fire incident.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported today that Schulte, who grew up in Ladue, Mo., was a born leader.
Her father, Robert Schulte, told the paper he remembers asking his 2-year-old daughter what she wanted to be when she grew up.
"Chairman of the board," she replied.
"Even at that age, she didn't say she wanted to be president, she wanted to be the leader," Schulte said of his daughter, whom most knew as Roz. "She wanted to be in charge. And she was."
She was an avid and accomplished lacrosse player in high school. Her parents said that while on the field, any time a jet flew overhead, she would pause in admiration and say how one day she would be a fighter pilot.
She went to the Air Force Academy after graduating from high school in 2002.
At the academy, she majored in political science, interned for former Sen. Alan Allard, R-Colo., and became a group commander — one of the academy's highest positions — said her mother, Suzie Schulte.
Robert Schulte said: "She would call me and say, 'Dad, all these guys might fly the planes, but they follow me.' She was a leader."
She graduated from the academy in 2006 and went into military intelligence instead of aviation.
In February she was deployed to Afghanistan, where her parents said she taught Afghan military leaders how to gather and interpret intelligence.
She was to return to the United States in August.
Schulte's brother and only sibling, Todd Schulte, is chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Scott Murphy, D-N.Y.
The Schultes said funeral arrangements were pending.
Air Force 1st Lt. Roslyn L. Schulte was killed in action on 5/20/09.
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