Mark Dooley

Wednesday, September 21 2005 @ 08:13 AM EDT

Burlington Free Press -- COLCHESTER -- A Vermont Army National Guard soldier and Wilmington police officer, described as a dedicated young man with a promising future in the military and law enforcement, was killed Monday by a roadside bomb in Iraq.

Mark Dooley, a 27-year-old first lieutenant, was investigating reports of suspicious activity in Ramadi with about 30 other soldiers when the bomb detonated. Although Dooley was wearing sophisticated body armor and riding in an armored vehicle, the blast killed him instantly, Vermont Guard commander Maj. Gen. Martha Rainville said Tuesday.

"It's a loss of a friend and a fellow soldier, and it's a loss of a talented individual," Rainville said during a news conference at Camp Johnson in Colchester. "He will be deeply missed."

The explosion killed two other U.S. service members from units outside Vermont, Rainville said. The bomb blast occurred at about 7 p.m. in Iraq, or 11 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time.

Dooley's parents, Peter and Marion Dooley, were notified of their son's death at about 11:30 p.m. Monday at their home in Wallkill, N.Y., where Dooley grew up, Rainville said. Through the Guard, the family declined to comment.

The Wilmington Police Department hired Dooley as a patrol officer in mid-November, just two months before his Guard unit -- the 3rd Battalion of the 172nd Mountain Infantry Regiment -- left Vermont. He immediately impressed his co-workers and members of his new community, Chief Joseph Szarejko said.

"He thought he could make a difference, and I'm sure he would have," Szarejko said in a phone interview, emotion apparent in his voice. "You don't meet many people like Mark Dooley in a lifetime. I was looking forward to him coming back."

The department's officers wrapped black bands around their badges.

With his death Dooley became the 19th serviceman with Vermont ties to be killed in combat in Iraq since the war began in March 2003. A 20th soldier, Vermont Army National Guard Sgt. William Normandy, died of natural causes in Kuwait.

Dooley is the fifth member of the Vermont National Guard and the second from Task Force Saber to be killed in combat. Saber, whose 375 members left Vermont in January for training and arrived in Iraq in July, lost Master Sgt. Chris Chapin, 39, of Proctor to a sniper's bullet Aug. 23 in a Ramadi suburb.

The yearlong mission was Dooley's first deployment. The young officer had "super things to come" in the Guard, chief of staff Col. Jonathan Farnham said.

"A bright future, no doubt," he said.

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