Georgia-based soldier from Indiana killed in Iraq explosion

<p>A soldier from northwestern Indiana who was killed in Iraq this week had planned on joining the military since he was a child.</p><p>Army Spc. Adam J. Harting, 21, died Monday when an explosive detonated near an armored vehicle in Samarra, Iraq, the military said. He and his twin brother gave their father letters when they were young saying they wanted to become soldiers.</p><p>"Little contracts that they both wrote," said the soldier's father, Jim Harting of Valparaiso. "He believed in what he was doing."</p><p>Harting grew up in Portage, graduating from Portage High School in 2002.</p><p>He and his twin brother, Alex, both were speaking with military recruiters before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Those attacks sealed their decision to sign up, as Alex Harting joined the Air Force, their father said.</p><p>Adam Harting also spent time in Portage High School's ROTC program.</p><p>"I remember him coming up to me in the hallway and saying he was going to join the Army," said Maj. John Johnston, who oversees Portage's ROTC. "I saw him on TV once guarding something over there."</p><p>Harting was interviewed by Time magazine in 2003 for being one of the youngest soldiers, then 19, to arrive in Kuwait as part of the Iraq operation.</p><p>"I just figure there's a lot of people here who take care of me," he told the magazine, referring to superiors who were assigned to watch out for soldiers like him.</p><p>He was assigned to the 42nd Infantry Division based in Fort Stewart, Ga.</p><p>Harting's death raises to 44 the number of people from Indiana to have died after being sent to the Mideast since the buildup for the invasion of Iraq began in 2003.</p>