Clanton Advertiser -- The U.S. military death toll reached a tragic milestone last week, and it came at the expense of a Chilton County native.

The Pentagon confirmed yesterday that Staff Sgt. George Alexander, 34, a 1989 graduate of Chilton County High School, became death number 2000 in the Iraqi conflict

according to a count conducted by the Associated Press and Reuters.

Alexander, who was wounded Oct. 17 in Samarra by a roadside bomb north of Baghdad, died in Texas last weekend.

Alexander was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, of Fort Benning, Ga. and was no stranger to the Iraqi landscape.

"He had been to Iraq about nine times," said Alexander's sister, Sasha Spence. "He had just went back over there in August."

Alexander, who enlisted in October 1991, was suited well for the Army, Spence said, and saw enlisting as a way to serve his community.

"He really enjoyed being in the Army. He loved it," she said. "He just wanted to make a difference. That was his thing - just make a difference. He was very loving. He was never down and he always smiled.

Even though Alexander's role with the Army suited him well, Spence joked that upon his graduation from CCHS, Alexander