Army Staff Sgt. John A. Reiners

Remember Our Heroes

Army Staff Sgt. John A. Reiners, 24, of Lakeland, Fla.

SSgt. Reiners was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.; died Feb. 13, 2010 of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device in Zhari province, Afghanistan. Also killed were Sgt. Jeremiah T. Wittman and Spc. Bobby J. Pagan.

Reiners ran cross country at Haines City High School not for love of the sport but because he viewed it as good preparation for his lifelong dream of becoming a U.S. Army Ranger, said his father, Greg Reiners of Lakeland.

"One of the things he told me is he was disappointed" about his Army boot camp, Greg Reiners, 47, said Tuesday. "It wasn't as hard as he thought it should be."

Military officials told the family Reiners was on a foot patrol in South Afghanistan about 10 p.m. Friday local time when a motorcyclist drove up and detonated a bomb, said his stepfather, Jerry Jackson of Gainesville. It killed Reiners and two other soldiers and injured several more.

Reiners' wife, Haines City High School graduate Casey Barker Reiners, received a bouquet of roses for Valentine's Day just hours after receiving the news of his death from three military representatives at her home in Colorado Springs, Colo. Reiners had been stationed at Fort Carson before his deployment to Afghanistan in early November.

Reiners, who was due to return home in May, leaves behind a 2-year-old son, Lex. Reiners had previously served two deployments in Iraq.

Casey Reiners, 23, said she has been told her husband will posthumously receive a Bronze Star and other decorations.

"I'm so honored and so proud to have had him as my husband," she said. "A lot of the superiors he worked with have been telling me he was one of the best soldiers they've ever seen. He really took serving his country very seriously. He wasn't just in it for the money or for the benefits. He was in it to serve and protect his country."

Family members said Reiners set his mind on a military career at a young age. His sister, Glennette Jackson of Gainesville, has a photo of him at age 3 in military gear.

Reiners' mother, Ronna Jackson of Gainesville, said he was strongly influenced by his grandfather, Army veteran Jay Jackson of Haines City, who earned a Purple Heart and Bronze Star in Vietnam.

"He was always an overachiever," Ronna Jackson said of her son. "If he was required to make 100 (on a test) and made 99, he always wanted to know what question he missed. He was a perfectionist."

Reiners played youth baseball, entered his junior high school's Young Astronauts program, was a Boy Scout and joined the Haines City Police Explorers. He joined the Army JROTC program as a high school freshman and made a strong impression on Sgt. Maj. Dwight Smith, a 25-year Army veteran and his commander for four years. "I normally ask them, 'What are your plans for the rest of your life?'" Smith said. "His was straightaway, 'I'm going into the military.'"

Smith said Reiners had no trouble with his requirements for cadets of doing 100 pushups and 100 situps each in two minutes. Smith said Reiners' team never lost in four years at military competitions against squads from other schools.

Smith, recognizing Reiners as officer material, encouraged him to enroll in college. "He said, 'I don't know if I want to take that time,'" Smith recalled. "He said, 'I want to be infantry. I want to head to the front lines. I just want to be there.' And that's what he did."

Reiners headed to boot camp a month after graduating from high school. "It (boot camp) didn't challenge him enough," said Jerry Jackson. "That boy was so physically fit, the other soldiers called him 'Rambo.'"

Reiners first deployed for Iraq in 2005. Casey Reiners said her husband was injured when his armored vehicle hit an explosive device. She said Reiners escaped the vehicle and led his fellow troops to safety. He received a Purple Heart for the incident.

Reiners' second tour of Iraq lasted from late 2007 through 2008. His wife said he incurred a concussion from another encounter with an explosive device.

Casey Reiners said her husband hoped to become an Army Ranger instructor after returning from Afghanistan. Reiners' father said he talked about going to college for a business management degree and opening an automobile mechanic shop.

Casey Reiners described her husband as "a country boy." He bought a vintage Chevrolet Suburban and equipped it with 44-inch tires so he could take it mud-bogging in Lakeland.

Reiners put a photo of the lime green vehicle, nicknamed "the Spearmint Hearse" by his wife, as the main image on his Facebook page.

Family members said Reiners didn't speak often about the dangers he faced in Iraq and Afghanistan. They said his extreme seriousness about his duty was balanced by a prankish manner back home.

"I remember before he left, I said, 'John, are they going to send you to a good part (of Afghanistan)?'" recalled his sister. "He said, 'Yeah, the Army is just going to send me to the best part over there where nothing is going on.' I said, 'Oh, really?' He said, 'No, Glennette, that's not possible. Every part over there is bad.' He knew what he was going into; he definitely did."

"I don't think he really wanted to talk about it (the danger) too much," Casey Reiners said, "but he did say he was scared going over there this time. He was worried."

Although a dedicated soldier, John Reiners shared his struggles with some duties he performed as a soldier, Greg Reiners and Jerry Jackson said. "He was having problems because he had to kill women and children who were suicide bombers," Jerry Jackson said. "He couldn't tell who they were. That's not the way he was raised. He didn't like the idea of having to take a human life."

Greg Reiners said his son was a devout Baptist and had a problem reconciling the biblical commandment "Thou shall not kill" with what he had to do to protect himself and his fellow soldiers.

Casey Reiners said she chatted with her husband by computer on his final morning. He called two hours later to say he was about to go out on patrol. "The last thing he said to me was, 'Casey, I feel your love with me and I carry it everywhere I go out here, and just know I won't be able to talk to you on Valentine's Day but just know all the love I possess I'm sending to you on that day and I'm constantly thinking about you,'" Casey Reiners said.

Ronna Jackson said she always listened to the Shedaisy song "Come Home Soon" with her son before his deployments. "It doesn't make it any easier that my son died the ultimate hero of America, but when I gave birth to him he was already my hero," she said, her voice breaking.

"I carried him for nine months, raised him for 18 years and my wonderful son repaid me by giving his life for my freedom. To me, that's all a mom can ask for."

The family was still making funeral arrangements Tuesday. Casey Reiners said her husband will be buried at Forest Hill Cemetery in Haines City.

He is survived by his wife, Casey Barker Reiners, Colorado Springs, Colorado, son, Lex John Reiners also of Colorado Springs, mother, Ronna (Jerry) Jackson of Gainesville, Fl, father, Greg (Robin) Reiners of Lakeland, Fl, brothers Mark Reiners of Lakeland, Fl, Gregory Reiners of Haines City, Fl, sisters: Glennette Jackson of Gainesville, Fl, Hannah Reiners of Lakeland, Fl, grandfather, J.C. Norrell of Albany, Ga, mother & father in law Mellie and Ernie Barker of Dundee, Fl, several aunts and uncles.

Army Staff Sgt. John A. Reiners was killed in action on 2/13/10.