Tommy Slocum, 22, Colorado. Fallen during the Battle of An Nasiriyah.

Slocum was proud of his rank. He almost always included it with his signature when he wrote to his longtime friend Kristy Urbanic, 22.

"I can't wait to come home and share the stories of my experiences and travels with the whole family," he wrote to her on March 13, in a letter she received Monday.

"I've been training hard and becoming smarter, harder, faster and deadlier everyday. ... I took the picture of you and (Urbanic's daughter) Zoe ... and put it in the pocket closest to my heart always."

Slocum had always had a thing for Urbanic, friends said. They'd known each other since fourth grade. Before he left for Iraq, they talked about moving in together when he returned, Urbanic said.

"I want you and Zoe more than anything in the world," he wrote to Urbanic on March 2.

"It does not matter if Zoe is not mine. All that matters is that I love her, teach her and protect her."

Twenty-one days later, he was dead.