Billings Gazette -- FORT RICHARDSON, Alaska - A paratrooper from Casper, Wyo., has been killed in Iraq, the Army said.

Spc. Jason J. Corbett, 23, died Jan. 15 of injuries he suffered when his mounted patrol encountered enemy small-arms fire in Karmah, officials said Sunday.

Corbett was assigned to the 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, at Fort Richardson.

Corbett, formerly known as Jason Vantrease, graduated from Kelly Walsh High School in Casper in 2001, according to a statement released by the Wyoming Army National Guard.

"Jason was proud to serve his country," his mother, Megan Schafer, said in the Guard statement. "He was such a strong person and a hard worker. It didn't matter what the task was, if it needed to be done and Jason was the one who had to do it, he did whatever he had to do to make it happen. Jason was admired and respected by his commanding officers and the soldiers in his company, some of whom remarked that he always had a smile on his face."

Schafer said her son loved sports and was on the track team at Kelly Walsh.

He also loved animals, the outdoors and studied biology at Casper College before joining the U.S. Army in 2004, according to the statement.

An avid fisherman, Corbett enjoyed fishing for salmon, biking snowboarding, hunting, and hiking while living in Anchorage, Alaska, where he had been stationed since November 2004, it said.

He was engaged and planned to marry after his return from Iraq, according to the Guard.

Services at First Christian Church in Casper are pending.