<p>An Oklahoma City soldier was among four Georgia-based soldiers killed in Iraq after the detonation of an improvised explosive device, the Department of Defense confirmed Tuesday.</p><p>Staff Sgt. William D. Scates, 31, of Oklahoma City, died Saturday in Arab Jabour, Iraq. Also killed in the explosion were: Sgt. Scott L. Kirkpatrick, 26, of Reston, Va.; Sgt. Andrew W. Lancaster, 23, of Stockton, Ill.; Spc. Justin O. Penrod, of Mahomet, Ill., the Defense Department reported.</p><p>All four were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division in Fort Stewart, Ga.</p><p>Moreana Whitson, Scates' mother, said she's not sure why her son was so attracted to the military, but he had wanted to be a soldier from the time he was 5 or 6 years old.</p><p>"He wanted to fight for his country when he was just a little boy," Whitson said of her son, the 57th Oklahoman killed in Iraq since the U.S. invasion in 2003. "He used to draw pictures of soldiers. It's just what he always wanted to do."</p><p>Scates attended Western Heights High School and joined the military after graduation. He served in the Oklahoma National Guard before joining the active-duty military.</p><p>Scates met his wife, Raquel, while stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas. The couple had a 9-year-old daughter, Jade, and a 7-month-old daughter, Kendra. Raquel Scates said the family had lived near Fort Stewart for the past four years.</p><p>Whitson said she spoke often and candidly with her son about the war.</p><p>"He knew how dangerous it was," Whitson said. "He was a little afraid this time. He kind of had a feeling that he might not make it back this time, but he was a brave guy and he loved his country."</p><p>Whitson said her son wanted to be buried near his wife's home in Texas. Services have not been set.</p><p>Kirkpatrick, a slam poet turned "rock hard soldier" kept a collection of rocks and bricks that were thrown at him mostly by children during his first tour of duty in Iraq, his uncle, Roy Deppa, told The Washington Post.</p><p>The rocks, usually thrown by children who only moments before had been laughing with him, "piqued his ironic sense of humor," Deppa said.</p><p>Kirkpatrick joined the Army 2 1/2 years after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks hoping to go to Afghanistan. Instead, he was sent twice to Iraq.</p><p>He married his longtime girlfriend, Christy Blasingame, while on leave from his first tour. They spent more than a year together in Georgia before he left for Iraq again on May 11.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x2dec3a0)</p>
