Abilene Reporter-News -- Aurora Fernandez misses her son's phone calls the most. A serious and responsible 22-year-old, Cpl. Reuben Marcus Fernandez III also had a funny side.

On leave and staying in Abilene, Reuben called his mother at work in San Angelo and asked if she had lunch plans.

"I said 'I don't know,' and I look up, and there he is walking in the door," Aurora said. "He was funny like that. He drove all the way to San Angelo, and we had lunch."

Known as Reuben to some, Marcus to others and Fernandez to his fellow soldiers, the 2004 Cooper High School graduate died Saturday supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Fernandez's vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb in Majar Al Kabir, Iraq. He was assigned to the 2nd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood.

Aurora said a funeral date is not set because she does not know when Reuben's body will return home. However, she said funeral arrangements will be with Elmwood Funeral Home and Memorial Park.

"When I got that call I knew he was in charge of that Humvee, and if he'd had a choice, and it could have been one of the other guys going and not him, he couldn't have lived with himself because he felt like he was in charge," Aurora said. "I do know that my son died being a hero and he was there because he wanted to be."

Reuben enlisted in the Army after graduating from Cooper in 2004.

He came home one day with a serious tone and told his mom he needed to talk. He had enlisted in the Army.

"I said, 'Son, are you sure? Right now there's a war going on, and the first thing they're going to do is send you to Iraq," Aurora said. "He goes, 'And I know that, Mom.'"

A month later, Reuben was off to boot camp. He was deployed to Iraq in December 2005 and returned the following December.

Deployed for his second tour June 14 of this year, Fernandez kept in constant touch with friends and relatives. Aurora said that she would get two phone calls a day and that she created a MySpace account to see pictures Reuben posted and to write him.

A father figure to Reuben, Joe Esquivel has known him since his son and Reuben were in the first grade.

"He was just a very quiet, funny, real lovable guy," Esquivel said. "I say that from the bottom of my heart. Me and my wife and my son are still mourning him." Like Aurora, Esquivel said Reuben called him often. The last time was Thursday. Esquivel was trying to get a care package of crackers, Cheez-Whiz and beef jerky to him.

"Reuben to me was a friend; he was a son. And he was my hero," Esquivel said.

But every time Reuben called, he never hung up the phone without saying he loved you. Aurora last talked to her son Friday.

"That's one thing I'm so grateful for," Aurora said. "'Love you. Gotta go. Bye.' That was one of his favorite things to say."

Aurora remembers the last day she saw Reuben -- the day he deployed from Fort Hood.

She, along with her sister and Reuben's younger sister Stephanie, went to Fort Hood to send him off. Aurora, the last person he hugged, couldn't help shedding a few tears, and her son tightly hugged her neck.

"He just kissed my tears and he goes, 'Mom remember, I'm going over there so y'all can be safe here,'" Aurora said.

Then he asked her not to worry about him. She promised.

But like any mother, Aurora couldn't help worrying about Reuben.

"Oh no, there's no way," she said.

Aurora received the dreaded phone call Sunday. However, Aurora still held onto the hope that Reuben was misidentified, or that someone else happened to be wearing his tags.

"When I first found out I didn't even want to call anybody because I wasn't believing it. I had hope," Aurora said. "I didn't even want to make that call. But then it was him. He died protecting our country."

Reuben, although serious and a jokester, was strong-willed.

"He was always saying, 'Mom, don't worry about it. I got it. I got that covered already,'" Aurora said. "I mean he just grew up so fast. He was 22 years old, but you'd never know." Besides growing up quickly, Aurora said she didn't deal with the typical teenage rebellion from Reuben.

"The most trouble he'd get into -- he'd have 15 people in his room, and they'd be too noisy," Aurora said.

Too noisy playing video games.

Reuben didn't play games in Iraq. He earned several awards while in the service and told his mom about soldiers he had to discipline.

During Reuben's first tour, he re-enlisted while there through 2012. He wanted to make the military his life.

His awards and decorations include the Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon and the Overseas Service Ribbon. He is the 22nd soldier with Big Country ties to be killed in the fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Aurora wouldn't have traded her son for anyone else.

"I know I could have had a million guys to choose my son from, and he would have been the man I would have chosen," Aurora said. "He was like a kid, but he was a great man."