Houston Chronicle -- An 18-year-old soldier from Columbus died Monday from injuries suffered in an ambush by Iraqi insurgents outside Mosul.

The Defense Department on Tuesday confirmed Army Pfc. Christopher Kilpatrick, who enlisted last year three months shy of his 18th birthday, was killed in an attack in Tal Afar, Iraq.

The Pentagon also announced the death of Master Sgt. Robert M. Horrigan, 40, of Austin, during combat operations Friday. Horrigan was assigned to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command in Fort Bragg, N.C.

According to his family, Kilpatrick was mortally wounded during an early morning firefight with insurgents who halted his truck with a bomb blast that flattened the tires. Kilpatrick, who was riding in the lead truck of a convoy, was airlifted to a hospital, but died en route.

Kilpatrick, of the 603rd Transportation Company stationed out of Fort Polk, La., was a 2004 graduate of Columbus High School and enlisted in March of last year.

"He was caring, he was funny, he was a leader," said his father, Scott Kilpatrick. During his last year in high school, Kilpatrick and his father argued over his desire to join the Army.

"By golly, he stood his ground and I stood mine," Scott Kilpatrick said. But eventually, with his son's 18th birthday months away, Scott Kilpatrick relented and signed the enlistment papers.

Kilpatrick liked excitement and was not the kind to back down from a dare, his family said. It was the promise of adventure that lured him into the Army, his father said.

"He took risks, he was brave," his mother, Tracy Hanak, said. "He kept us on our toes. He had no fear. He was my first born, he was the apple of my eye."

Hours before his death, Kilpatrick called his dad to wish him a happy Father's Day, Scott Kilpatrick said. They didn't have much time to talk; the young soldier was busy getting ready for his upcoming assignment, his father said.

"We talked for a little bit, he told me he loved me," Scott Kilpatrick said. "I told him that I loved him and I thought to myself that I couldn't wait for him to come home.

"We'll see each other again in heaven."

Kilpatrick is also survived by two sisters, two stepsisters and a stepfather and stepmother.