SGT Ryan Jopek - An American Hero

Sorry for the lack of posting lately, but my mom has been in a daze since we learned of Ryan's death near Tikrit, Iraq, on August 2nd. She served in Iraq in 2004 with Ryan's father, SSG Brian Jopek, so Ryan was almost like a family member too. He was a brave young man who loved being a soldier, so it was especially tragic when he was killed by an IED on his very last mission after serving in Iraq for almost a whole year. Our friend Teresa posted a link to one of the newspaper articles on her blog last week, and it really captures the spirit of who Ryan was so we're including the link here. Please keep our friend Brian and his family in your prayers.