 Star Tribune -- Sgt. First Class Jesse Albrecht of New Richmond, Wis., was the heart of his family, often gathering members for impromptu get-togethers when he was home on leave.
 The last time his mother heard from him was two days after Mother's Day, when he wrote that he was "fine, alive and kicking."
Albrecht, 31, was killed with two other soldiers when a roadside bomb detonated near their vehicle in Iraq, the Defense Department said Monday. He was killed Thursday in Iskandariya, an ancient town near the Euphrates River, about 25 miles from Baghdad.
He had grown up on a dairy and sheep farm in Pierce County, Wis., and graduated from Prescott High School in 1994, family members said Monday evening.
"He was very outgoing, very mellow, very family-oriented," said his mother, Denise Albrecht of tiny Cylon, Wis., near New Richmond.
"He was always laughing, a very upbeat person, and he would always go the extra mile."
Albrecht had enlisted as a part-time reservist in 1993, between his junior and senior years of high school.
He had hoped to get $20,000 in educational benefits, his mother said.
After his high school graduation in '94, Albrecht enlisted full time and shipped out to Fort Bragg, N.C. He still had eight years to go and recently had settled in Alaska.
Albrecht had told his family little about his missions with the 725th Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division out of Fort Richardson, Alaska.
What was clear, his mother said, was his love of service to his country, even when the going turned tough.
"He was 100 percent military," Denise Albrecht said, "He always made the best of a bad situation, like, 'OK, I've got to do it.' "
He leaves behind his wife, Crystal, whom he married last July, and an 11-year-old daughter from his first marriage.
"They already built a new home and he was going to come back and settle in and be a recruiter," his mother said. "Crystal is going to school to be a doctor. He had really good plans for the future."
Albrecht also had two older sisters and a younger brother.
His mother last heard from him in an e-mail he sent last Tuesday. "Sorry I'm late, but I had to wish you a happy Mother's Day," he wrote. "Tell everybody I'm fine, alive and kicking over here."
Monday evening, family members continued to receive condolences from his relatives and friends, including what Albrecht's mother described a surprisingly "tight-knit" military family that he'd formed.
"We're doing OK," Albrecht's sister, Kathie Sylte, said from New Richmond Monday evening. "We're staying together as a family."
Services are set for 1 p.m. Saturday at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Glenwood City, Wis. | 
I would like to say thank you to you and the other two soldiers who were also killed in that blast for your service and sacrifice for our Country. And to your family and loved ones, I wish to extend my deepest sympathy.
Airborne All The Way!