Staff Sgt. Christopher S. Frost, 24, of Waukesha, Wis., died March 3 near Bayji, Iraq in a crash of an Iraqi Army Mi-17 helicopter. He was assigned to the 377th Air Base Wing, Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M.

And as a member of the U.S. Air Force serving in Iraq, he got to employ his relentless pursuit of stories as an editor of a military publication, Gary Frost said.

"He was ecstatic when one of his stories got picked up by a Spokane, Washington, newspaper," Gary Frost said in a telephone interview Wednesday night, after learning that his son had been killed in Iraq. "He is esteemed by the people who worked around him for his willingness to tackle any assignment or any mission."

According to the U.S. Department of Defense, Staff Sgt. Christopher S. Frost, 24, died Monday near Bayji, Iraq, in a crash of an Iraqi Army Mi-17 helicopter. The circumstances surrounding the crash are under investigation. He was assigned to the 377th Air Base Wing, Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M.

Christopher Frost, a graduate of Mukwonago High School from the Town of Vernon, worked in public affairs as editor of The Advisor, a semimonthly publication of the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq, his father said.

He enlisted in the Air Force right out of high school and was deployed to Iraq in fall, Gary Frost said.

"He loved the challenge and the relentlessness of his job," he said. "He had high hopes of being a top journalist someday."

He never forgot about those around him, his father said.

"When he would ask to have stuff sent from home, whether it was batteries, candies or snacks, it would not be for him," he said. "It would be for the kids or the troops out in the field for whom he had the utmost respect."

His son will be missed by the people he touched simply by being himself, his father said.

Christopher Frost's grandmother, Mary Jean Frost of Waukesha, said she took care of him from the age of 4 months until he started first grade so that both his parents could work.

"I can't say that he ever misbehaved. He was a really good kid," she said.

"He and I used to go away for a couple days up north by ourselves," she continued. "We had a lot of good times together. It's hard for me to know he's gone. I can't even imagine it. He was a wonderful person."

The circumstances surrounding the accident remained under investigation, but the statement said the crash occurred in a dust storm.

Friends of his family are heartsick. "Christopher was a great kid. He always smiled, and he always waved when he'd go down the street," said Donna Roepke.

Roepke still lives next door to Frost's parents in the neighborhood where he grew up.

She remembers the last time she saw him, "he was riding the bike with his two children back in October."

Frost has two young children.

Those who knew him say he was a great father and a great soldier. "I stayed in contact with his mom and dad and always asked, 'How's Christopher doing?'" Roepke told us. "They would always say he'll be home at such and such a date, or he'll be home for Christmas. Now he's not coming home," she said.

Frost was assigned to the 377th Air Base Wing out of Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M.

He was just finishing up his second tour in Iraq. He was reportedly scheduled to come home in 20 days.

Frost, who worked in the base's public affairs office, had been deployed in Iraq since September. His role was to support a command team responsible for organizing and training Iraqi security forces.

A six-year veteran of the Air Force, Frost was stationed at the Kirtland base since July 2005.

Christopher Frost is the 87th Wisconsin service member to die as a result of the conflict in Iraq since the U.S. invasion in 2003.

He is also the seventh from Waukesha County and the first state service member to die in Iraq since Army Pfc. Keith Lloyd of Milwaukee was killed Jan. 12 by a roadside bomb.