Killed in Action

Specialist Justin Allan Rollins is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Rollins, an assistant machine gunner with the 82nd Airborne Division's 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, was the 318th service member killed in Iraq to be buried at Arlington. Five other soldiers were also killed in the blast.

Rollins joined the Army in February 2004. He had been assigned to recruitment duty in the United States but fought to be sent to Iraq, said Marjorie Hutchins, a close friend from high school.

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When Rollins joined the military, something changed, friends said. He carried himself differently, stood a little straighter. He loved being a soldier and returned to Iraq after he was injured by a roadside bomb.

"He was still himself, still a funny guy, but he was so proud," Hutchins said. "He met some of his best friends over there. If he didn't die of old age, he wanted to die in combat, doing something he believed in."

Godspeed, Specialist Rollins.