Army Spc. Christian M. Adams

Remember Our Heroes

Army Spc. Christian M. Adams, 26, of Sierra Vista, Ariz.

Spc. Adams was assigned to the 20th Engineer Battalion, 36th Engineer Brigade, Fort Hood, Texas; died June 11, 2010 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained in a non-combat-related incident.

A 2003 graduate of Buena High School in Sierra Vista died in Afghanistan on Friday, the Pentagon announced Monday.

Army Spc. Christian M. Adams, 26, the father of a 2-year-old girl, died in Kandahar of wounds from "a non-combat related incident," the Defense Department said in a news release. It did not provide specifics.

Adams is the 45th military member with ties to Tucson and Southern Arizona to die while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. Sierra Vista is about 75 miles southeast of Tucson.

Adams was assigned to the 20th Engineer Battalion, 36th Engineer Brigade at Fort Hood, Texas. An official there, reached late Monday, had no other details about Adams' service or the circumstance surrounding his death.

"He loved his God and his family, and he loved the Army," said Maria Hamilton, a family friend who lives across the street from the house in Sierra Vista where the soldier grew up. Hamilton said her children went to school with Adams and his twin brother, Anthony.

Christian Adams joined the military shortly after high school as a vehicle mechanic, Hamilton said. He served three years, left the military briefly, then re-enlisted in the infantry, she said.

This was his second wartime tour, she said. He previously served in Iraq.

Donna Adams, the soldier's mother, couldn't be reached for comment Monday. She had traveled to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to greet her son's remains, which arrived from Afghanistan on Sunday in a flag-draped transport case carried by fellow soldiers.

Hamilton said Christian Adams; his wife Amanda, an Oklahoma native; and their toddler daughter, Faith Marie, lived at Fort Hood.

They last visited Sierra Vista for the Christmas holidays, she said. "He loved coming home to visit his family and friends and neighbors," she said. "He just loved life."

Army Spc. Christian M. Adams was killed in a non-combat related incident on 6/11/10.