Sign on San Diego -- As a senior at Granite Hills High School in El Cajon, Joseph W. Perry faced an uncertain future. He had no plans to attend college, and he knew his part-time job of spinning rap tunes as a disc jockey at dances and parties would only go so far.

“He was completely directionless,” said his mother, Kirsten Yuhl.

Sept. 11, 2001, changed everything.

Determined to serve his country no matter the cost, he joined the Army after graduating from high school and underwent basic training at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

Sgt. Perry was several months into his second tour of duty in Iraq when he was killed Monday on a mission in the Dora Market area of southern Baghdad. He was 23.

“Between his deployments, he had said to me that he never felt more alive than when he was in Iraq,” Yuhl said. “He was well aware of the sacrifices and willing to take on the responsibility. He never regretted his enlistment.”

After his five-year enlistment, which was to end in July 2007, Sgt. Perry intended to marry Christina Wert, 28, of Fayetteville, N.C. They had been engaged since November.

Trained in the Army as a military police officer, Sgt. Perry was planning a civilian career in law enforcement, his mother said.

While deployed in Iraq in May, Sgt. Perry received a Bronze Star for stepping in the line of fire and diverting it from his squad, his mother said. He also received a Purple Heart for a minor wound.

On his fatal mission, he was serving as a gunner in a Humvee when he was shot by a sniper. “They were checking out a report of some men in the area with weapons,” his mother said. “The people in the vehicle with him reported talking, probably laughing, to ease the tension. Suddenly it was silent – he died instantly.”

Sgt. Perry was assigned to the 21st Military Police Company, 16th Military Police Brigade, XVIII Airborne Corps, at Fort Bragg, N.C.

In Iraq, where he first was deployed for nine months in June 2003, one of his assignments was training Iraqi police.

“He felt he was making progress in handling more responsibility over to the Iraqis,” his mother said.

Growing up in East County, Sgt. Perry had shown a talent for photography at a young age. At 10, he won a National Geographic children's calendar award for a photo he took of one of his pet cats.

He played in ice hockey leagues in La Mesa and despite a lanky frame – about 6-foot-2, 160-170 pounds – he played end in football as a freshman and sophomore at Granite Hills High.

“Friends of his from his elementary and middle school years told us he loved to play Army as a kid,” said his maternal grandmother, Helen Yuhl of Descanso. “He would go out in the brush with a toy gun.”

The Army was in Sgt. Perry's blood. Yet, he did not consider it an option during his high school years until 9/11, his family said.

His father, Everett Perry, and mother are both Army veterans. Sgt. Perry was born Sept. 4, 1983, in Germany, where his parents were stationed at the time.

Sgt. Perry attended elementary and middle school in Alpine before enrolling at Granite Hills.

Survivors include his mother, Kirsten Yuhl of Alpine; father, Everett Perry; stepfather, Vernon Torres of Alpine; and half brothers, Tyler Perry and Devin Perry.

Services are scheduled for today at Fort Bragg. A memorial service is planned later in East County.