A 20-year-old Army private from Severna Park, who saw his service in Iraq as ultimately protecting Americans, will be buried Wednesday at Arlington National Cemetery.

Eric Kavanagh was killed five days ago when an explosive detonated. The young soldier, trained as a Bradley tank driver, had been in Iraq about five weeks as a member of the 26th Infantry Regiment.

"He knew what was out there," said Andy Baxley, who supervised Kavanagh when he helped run the presses at the Maryland Pennysaver after high school. "We were all very proud of him. He knew where he was heading."

A Washington native, Kavanagh grew up in Severna Park and attended school there. He was the eldest of three children -- "a very gentle soul . . . a good big brother," a family friend said yesterday -- and loved music and playing the guitar.

He worked at the Pennysaver, a weekly shopping publication, for about two years after ending classes at Chesapeake High School in Anne Arundel County. He enlisted in the military in 2005, having carefully considered what it could offer as well as the dangers to which it might send him. He wore his fatigues with pride, friends said, and his transformation was quickly apparent to those back home.

"You could see how much more mature he was," said neighbor Diana Wilson, whose son, Kyle, and Kavanagh knew each other from childhood. "He looked like he was taller."

The Army has not released details of Kavanagh's death Wednesday. His family was notified early Thursday and word spread. "Eric was killed," Baxley learned from another pressroom employee. "The whole place got quiet and subdued. It's been like that since."

Kavanagh was at least the sixth person from the Washington region killed in Iraq in less than a month.

Nineteen-year-old Marine Lance Cpl. Colin Wolfe of Manassas died Aug. 30 during combat operations in Anbar province. Four days later, Army Pfc. Edwin A. Andino II, 23, of Culpeper died when an explosive device detonated near his vehicle in Baghdad.

On Sept. 12, Army 2nd Lt. Emily J.T. Perez, 23, died of injuries suffered in a similar incident in Al Kifl. The following weekend, Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class David Roddy of Aberdeen and Army Sgt. David Joseph Davis of Mount Airy were killed. Roddy died during fighting in Anbar, Davis from an explosion in Sadr City. Both were 32.