Staff Sgt. Ivan Vargas Alarcon, 23, was killed in Tal Afar, Iraq, Thursday when the Humvee he was in accidentally rolled over. He was assigned to the Army's 473rd Quartermaster Company.

Alarcon was the gunner in the Humvee and he and two other soldiers were thrown from the vehicle when it overturned, his younger brother Anibal Alarcon said on Monday.

Alarcon deployed to Iraq on Oct 4. Before his deployment, he was able to spend more than a week with his family in Idaho, Anibal said.

"He was an excellent brother to us," Anibal said. "He always worried about us and wanted the best for us."

Alarcon is the son of Mexican immigrants. Besides Anibal, he is survived by a wife and two adopted children, parents Salomon and Alicia, brothers Salomon, Rene and Alex, and sisters Jessica and Melissa.

Alarcon joined the Army in 1999 after graduating from high school and re-enlisted for another four years because he wanted to "explore the world," Anibal said.

The Army mechanic had dreams of opening his own repair shop when his service was up in January of 2007.

"He loved working on cars. That's what he was studying for," said brother Rene Alarcon, 18.

Rene, a Marine lance corporal, said he expects to be deployed to Iraq soon. He said the loss of his brother hasn't shaken his confidence, but he wishes things had turned out differently.

"There's no hesitation. I'm going to have to go anyway, right?" he said. "But if I could have anything, I'd give my life for his. It should have been me. I should have went.

"He was almost out."