Army Pfc. Christian M. Warriner

Remember Our Heroes

Army Pfc. Christian M. Warriner, 19, of Mills River, N.C.

Pfc. Warriner was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.; died Nov. 14, 2010 in Kunar province, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked his unit with small arms fire.

‘He hadn’t even lived his life yet’
By Nanci Bompey
Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times

MILLS RIVER, N.C. — When Joyce Warriner awoke suddenly in the middle of the night last week, she prayed to God to protect her great-grandson.

Army Pfc. Christian “Kade” Michael Warriner was serving his country in Afghanistan.

“I prayed that the Lord would protect him and have him ready to meet him,” Joyce Warriner said from her home in Pineola in Avery County. “Then he died on Sunday. That gave me comfort. He was ready to be in the afterlife.”

Warriner, 19, of Mills River died Nov. 14 in Kunar province in Afghanistan. He was one of five soldiers killed when insurgents attacked their unit with small-arms fire.

Warriner was assigned to Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), out of Fort Campbell, Ky.

He is the 15th person from western North Carolina to die while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Warriner was a 2009 graduate of West Henderson High School. He married his high school sweetheart, Shelby Warriner, in March, according to his Facebook profile. He joined the Army in July 2009 and arrived at Fort Campbell in November 2009.

Joyce Warriner said her great-grandson always wanted to serve his country and planned to become a forest ranger when he got out of the Army. She said he was a very loving young man and was a typical teenager who liked to go to parties and had lots of friends.

“He was so young,” Joyce Warriner said. “He hadn’t even lived his life yet.”

Dean Jones, the principal at West Henderson High School, described Warriner as a “young man who knew what he wanted to do,” which included joining the Army when he graduated. Warriner was a member of the JROTC, the Future Farmers of America and the football team. The school will likely create a memorial for Warriner, Jones said.

“One person described him as his own person. He made his own decisions,” Jones said. “Most all my conversations with him the last part of his senior year were about how excited he was about joining the Army.”

Joyce Warriner last saw Kade Warriner when he was home on leave in September. She said he told her he was fighting near the Pakistan border, one of the most dangerous areas in Afghanistan.

“He tried to cover it, but you could tell he was scared,” she said. “Every moment he was in danger.

“I am sorry he had to give his life for his country, but he was willing,” Joyce Warriner said.

“I do believe that God will bring good out of it, that there will be some good to come out of it, rather than just losing his life in vain.”

In addition to his wife, Warriner is survived by his father, Norman Warriner of Arden, and his mother, Brandy Jurczyga of Burnsville.

His awards and decorations include the Army Achievement Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, and the NATO Medal and Parachutist Badge.

Army Pfc. Christian M. Warriner was killed in action on 11/14/10.