Ricky A. Kieffer
Staff Sergeant, United States Army
November 21, 1968 – March 15, 2005
Age – 36
Ovid, MI
Operation Iraqi Freedom
1st Battalion, 182nd Field Artillery Regiment (Multiple Launch Rocket System), Michigan Army National Guard, Detroit, MI
Killed when enemy forces using small arms fire attacked his unit in Baghdad, Iraq
Michigan Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Ricky A. Kieffer was a quiet man and a homebody who spent most of his free time with his family in the small community of Ovid, Michigan. He was a quiet person. You never saw him out a lot. He was either fishing with his dad or at home with his family doing something.
He was an avid hunter and fisherman. Before he was deployed, Kieffer worked as a mechanic for the Michigan National Guard in Lansing.
He was remembered by fellow soldiers with the following memorials.
“SSG all I can remember is I needed earplugs and was losing my mind because no one had any, and you found me in the hallway and gave me yours, due to the kink in the supply chain. And only you, myself, and Matthews could remember the thing we had about who was the better gunner. I was also out that day, Casevac with Cpt. Myers, escorting the Nomad platoon kid back to Rusty. We tried to get them to let us leave that area earlier, but it was out of our Company’s control. I wish they had, then maybe I could have known the person a little more, that I loved as a soldier. You are a great man, you will be missed.
The one and only Fields”
Rayvonne Fields of Detroit, MI
“Ricky,
You were one of the greatest. Your leadership helped me finish the tour. I am proud to say I served under you. You were for the troops. Something I believed in my whole military career. Your example helped me finish our tour, and I could feel your presents even after that day. I was with you til that last breath and that will be with me the rest of my life. That day plays over and over and I am sorry I couldn’t do more. What could I have done different is the question I am and will live with me the rest of my life. To Your family, I am sorry. Someday I would like to meet you all in person. I just can’t hold my head up yet.
Ricky, I am sorry for letting you down, and not being able to do more for you. What could I have done different will haunt me forever.”
SSG Rob Summersett of Caro, MI