Randy L. Stevens
Specialist, United States Army
August 7, 1983 – April 16, 2005
Age – 21
Swartz Creek, MI
Operation Iraqi Freedom
2nd Battalion, 17th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Camp Hovey, Korea
Killed by indirect fire from mortars and rockets in Ramadi, Iraq
At age 21, U.S. Specialist Randy Lee Stevens had already earned a Purple Heart in the war in Iraq and had just re-enlisted for another six years in the military.
“He always had a sense of duty, that was his big thing,” said Stevens’ brother. “When I asked why he reupped, he said, “Because I’m a soldier. That’s what I do.”
Stevens – who one day wanted to open an auto body repair shop with his brother – was one of three soldiers killed and seven injured during what the military called “an indirect fire attack” Saturday on their base about 70 miles west of Baghdad.
Stevens had just returned to Iraq after a two-week leave at home. He spent his early childhood in Durand before his family moved to Flint Township and the Swartz Creek School District when he was 11. He called his brother on April 13 to say he’d made it back safe and sound. He was happy because his chief had gotten him out of going out on a raid that night.
A Defense Department news release contained few specifics, but said the attackers of Camp Ramadi fled into a nearby mosque and the Iraqi security forces who pursued them “came up empty when searching the building.” Stevens, a heavy artillery specialist, was killed while in pursuit of the attackers. He was qualified as a sharpshooter on every weapon, so they sent him out a lot on raids, and he was always the first one in the door because he was the biggest guy out there. He was 6 foot, 2 inch, 225 pounds.
Stevens, who had 90 days left to serve in Iraq, had been there since Aug 1 after serving in Korea for 1 ½ years. All his personal stuff was already at Fort Carson, Colorado, waiting for him to get back. He was going to become a recruiter in Flint.
Family members said the military helped Stevens get through some tough times. He had dropped out of high school in the late 1990s, but earned his general equivalency diploma when he enlisted in 2002. That’s why he joined the Army – he wanted to make his family proud.
He went to Busch Gardens, drove go-carts in Orlando, went to Clearwater Beach and just had fun on his last trip home. He headed back to Iraq stocked up on T-shirts and pre-sweetened Kool-Aid, which he told family is “like gold over there.”
He was real independent like that. He’d do anything anybody asked him, but he never wanted to take anything.
The soldier had seen his share of combat since August and had lost several friends, including some he’d helped treat as an impromptu field medic. He earned a Purple Heart and a medal for an incident on Nov 2 when his Humvee was struck by an IED.
According to family, Stevens and another soldier escaped on foot. When they returned later to retrieve the damaged vehicle, they were caught in the blast of a suicide bomber’s car. Stevens was struck in the head by the exploding car’s hood, but managed to shield his companion from the blast.
His two main passions were Harley-Davidson motorcycles and Ford Mustang. He’d bought a Mustang in Korea and was planning on bringing it home, but he gave it back when he learned he was going to Iraq.