The Washington Post -- Adam J. Fargo, who grew up in Virginia, was in an Army unit assigned to keeping other soldiers safe from one of the deadliest hazards of Iraq: roadside bombs.

As a medic in an engineer platoon, part of his job was to tend the wounds of the soldiers who were protecting the rest of the troops by clearing out explosive devices.

His father said last night from the family home in Ruckersville that his son felt that he was making a contribution.

"He was confident that he could help [other] soldiers if they got hurt," Doug Fargo said.

On Saturday, Cpl. Adam Fargo, 22, who was in Iraq to help save lives, lost his own. The Pentagon said he died of wounds sustained when his convoy encountered enemy small-arms fire.

"He was just a very special young man," his godmother, Debra Holder of Ashburn, said last night. "He was always giving," she said. "He gave everything. He volunteered for missions that he didn't have to."

At first, his father said, men in his unit called him "Doc Fargo," using the common way for soldiers to refer to a medic.

But, the father said, Fargo volunteered so often for missions to find and dispose of bombs that the unit began calling him "Sapper Fargo." Combat engineers often call themselves sappers.

When killed, his father said, Adam Fargo was driving a big engineer vehicle assigned to protect a highway convoy.

Fargo was born in Germany, where his father was serving in the Army. Part of his boyhood was spent on the base at Fort Polk, La.

Fargo grew up northeast of Charlottesville and graduated from William Monroe High School in Greene County, where he was an outstanding soccer player, his godmother said.

He left George Mason University shortly before the end of his first year and enlisted in the Army in 2004.

He "really latched on to it," his father said, going quickly "from civilian to 'I want to do everything.' " Training as a medic suited him, his father said. "He thought he was on his way to learning something and wanted to contribute."

In addition to his father, survivors include his mother, Libby, a brother, Jason, and a sister, Sarah, according to his godmother.

Messages received from his officers and fellow soldiers have helped show the family "what a hero Adam was," she said. "He has given his life for the freedom that I have today."