Jordan Goode

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Corporal, United States Army

December 4, 1984 – August 11, 2007
Age – 22
Kalamazoo, MI

Operation Enduring Freedom
4th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, NC

Died of wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device

Cpl. Jordan Goode was the lead driver in a five-truck convoy when a roadside bomb exploded Aug. 11, 2007 beneath his vehicle.

Jordan Goode was only in middle school when the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks happened, but what unfolded on 9/11 stuck with him forever, his dad says.

“You never suspect that it would affect a young person so far away that hard. And we had many, many conversations about 9/11 from all sides of it,” Tony Goode recalls. “And I think that was one of those things where he thought maybe if he got involved, that he could be a help.”

Jordan Goode spent two years at Kalamazoo Central High School and graduated in 2004 from New City High School. He enlisted in the Army shortly after graduating and was shipped to Afghanistan in January.

So it wasn’t too surprising when he enlisted in the U.S. military in 2005 after he and his future wife, Aubrey Goode, discovered she was pregnant with their daughter, Amirah. To provide for his family, Sheri Goode says he decided to skip college, which would have taken too long, and join the Army

Jordan Goode enjoyed doing things on the edge — whether skateboarding, snowboarding or jumping from military planes. He loved the thrill. That’s why he went Airborne. Once when Jordan snowboarded, he went down the end of a slope and there was no snow at the bottom. He had a concussion.

 “He was a great kid and he loved his family,” his mother said. “He believed in what he was doing and he was doing the right thing.” He and his family spoke often through a Web cam they bought him, his mother said. “I talked to him [last] Monday for about 15 minutes online,” Sheri Goode said. “I asked if he was ready to come home and he said, ‘Yeah.’ He wanted to be out of his boots. Jordan said he was so tired of being in his boots.”