Sun Sentinel -- The way his mother sees it, Air Force Tech. Sgt. Timothy Weiner and his four siblings didn't always have a male role model around. Growing up in Lauderhill, he developed his own sense of authority, responsibility and family, marrying his high school sweetheart after graduation and enlisting in the military. He didn't flinch at duty, even when the military told him he'd be going to Iraq again.

Weiner, 35 and an explosives expert, was one of three airmen killed Sunday near Baghdad by what the military says was a "vehicle-borne improvised explosive device." He was in the middle of his second tour of duty in the troubled region, assigned to the 775th Civil Engineer Squadron, Hill Air Force Base, Utah.

In Utah, he lived with his wife, Debbie, and teenage son, Johnathan.

His mother, Marcia Fenster, recently remarried but still lives in Lauderhill.

"He had a maturity that many men never achieve," she said through her tears, referring to the youngest of her five children. Of her four sons, all chose the military for their career.

One of them, Kevin Weiner, said that joining the Air Force was his brother's lifelong goal.

"He had a fascination with aircraft, did plane models, and he talked about being in the Air Force since he was 8 years old," said Weiner, of Chesapeake, Va.

The Coast Guard veteran recalled the last time the whole family got together -- when their mother remarried last year - and they reveled in confetti but didn't discuss war issues.

"There's an unspoken language between military personnel. There's not a lot of specifics shared out of respect. We talked about the politics," he said.

Kevin Weiner's wife, Barbara, remembers how Timothy Weiner was always so proud of his son.

"It's going to be a rough time for his son, but he will know how brave his father was and what a heroic thing he was doing," she said.

Weiner graduated from Piper High School.

He also is survived by his father, Charles Kenneth Weiner, of upstate New York; brothers Robbie and Eric Weiner of Colorado; his sister, Karyn Plante, of Fayetteville, N.Y.; and step-father Pierre Fenster. Funeral services are pending.