Aaron D. Jagger

Tuesday, August 15 2006 @ 06:57 AM EDT

Toledo Blade -- HILLSDALE - A veteran U.S. Army soldier and 1980 graduate of Camden High School was killed in Iraq last week by an enemy explosive, the U.S. Defense Department announced yesterday.

Army 1st Sgt. Aaron D. Jagger, 43, was among three soldiers who were killed Wednesday when a roadside bomb detonated near their vehicle in Ramadi, Iraq.

He was a member of the Army's 1st Battalion, 37th Armor Regiment, 1st Armored Division. He was stationed out of Friedberg, Germany.

A guitarist and vocalist in his company's band, The Bandits, Sergeant Jagger often performed with the group at memorial services for fallen soldiers, his mother, Carol Bailey, said in a telephone interview from her home in Rossville, Ga.

The victim has a wife and four daughters living in Germany, and another daughter who lives in Rossville, Ga., Mrs. Bailey said. His father, Dale, and a brother, Anson, live in Hillsdale, she said. Family in Hillsdale could not be reached for comment last night.

"He believed in what he was doing and thought it was the right thing," Mrs. Bailey said.

Sergeant Jagger was born in Hillsdale and lived in the area through high school. He first began playing guitar when he was 13 and went on to participate in numerous school musicals and plays, Mrs. Bailey said.

Shortly after graduation he moved to Rossville and worked at a hospital for a year before deciding to enlist in the Army with the hope of gaining money to attend college, his mother said.

"After he got out of high school and got a job, he realized he wasn't really going to get anywhere without a degree," Mrs. Bailey said.

He took college courses at various schools over the years wherever he happened to be stationed, and had interest in business administration. He finally acquired enough credits for a bachelor's degree, but never officially graduated, Mrs. Bailey said.

Sergeant Jagger had been serving his third tour of duty in Iraq. He had previously served two tours in Bosnia and was a tank commander during the Persian Gulf War, his mother said.

"He was gone from here for months at a time," she said. "We hadn't seen him in almost two years."

Sergeant Jagger will be buried at Berg Cemetery in Hillsdale next to his younger brother, Quintin Jagger, who died two years ago from brain cancer.

Services are being handled by the Hampton-Kurtz Funeral Home in Hillsdale. A date for the services was not available.

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