Brent Zoucha

Thursday, June 15 2006 @ 07:53 AM EDT

Aurora News Register --  Brent Zoucha was a Marine, through and through.
    Long before the 19-year-old High Plains graduate headed to boot camp, his high school locker was adorned with Marines posters.
    His conversations were filled with talk of serving his country.
    He’d get up at 5 a.m. and run five miles so he’d be in “Marine shape.”
    He petitioned his High Plains principal, unsuccessfully, to graduate early so he could head to camp.
    He loved everything about the corps and its tradition.
    He lived and breathed the Marine Corps.
    Friday, he died as a Marine. Killed in the line of duty.
    Lance Corporal Brent Zoucha of Clarks was fatally injured when a land mine exploded Friday near Al An Bar Province, Al Bu Hardan, Iraq, while he was conducting combat operations against enemy forces.
    He was doing what he loved -- being “Faithful to God, Country, Family and the Corps.”
    “If there’s any solace (in his death), it’s that he died doing what he wanted to do,” said his high school principal, Cletus Arasmith.
    Zoucha family friend David Beck said the family is still in shock at the loss of their son, brother, friend and soldier.

“Brent was the all-American boy,” Beck said. “He’s the kind of kid I want my son to grow up to be.”
    Beck said Zoucha’s mother Rita was beyond words and he didn’t think the realization that her youngest son was really gone had completely set in.
    “She’s just in a daze right now,” Beck said. “How would you be if your son was killed?”
    Beck described the Zoucha family as an extension of his own. He said because of the close ties, he reluctantly accepted the position as the family spokesperson.
    “They are part of my family and I’d do anything for them,” Beck said.
    Beck said Brent was one of those kids who just had an aura about him. He was polite to elders, kind, loving and had a great sense of humor to contradict his very serious side.
    “People who didn’t really know Brent might think he was kind of quiet,” Beck said. “That went away when you got to know him.”
    He said Brent’s sense of humor was dry and he could deliver a one-liner that would have friends grabbing their guts with laughter, and he wouldn’t even crack a smile.
    “Brent was a very competitive person. Second place was never an option,” Beck added.
    Basketball coach Cameron Hudson and track coach Steve Meyer echoed that thought.
    “He was a hard worker and a quiet leader,” Hudson said. “His leadership was by example through his competitiveness and effort on the court.”
    Hudson said as Zoucha went through high school and decided on the military, he could see a sense of pride developing in his player.
    “As it came closer to reporting for duty, he was very proud of the fact he was going and that his brother also was a Marine,” Hudson said. “He said if he was going to serve, he was going to serve with the best.”
    Hudson said Zoucha worked extremely hard because he had a goal and an idea of what he wanted to do in the future. The big thing with him was training on weekends so he would report to duty in good shape.
    Meyer said Zoucha was a stellar athlete who worked hard and did everything he was asked to do.
    “I’m sure he did the same thing as a Marine. He was very responsible,” Meyer said. “His was a life that was taken way too young.”
    Arasmith, who was in his first year at High Plains during Zoucha’s final year of school, said the senior initiated him to High Plains in a good way.
    “He used my open door policy quite frequently. We had some very good conversations,” Arasmith said. “He was a Marine all the way through. In fact in April he asked if he could graduate early so he could get to boot camp. He was so eager to be a part of the Marines.”
    Zoucha traced the footsteps of his older brother, Dyrek into service for his country in the Marine Corp. Beck said he joined the Marines because he felt they were the best.
    Brent and Dyrek served in the same unit in Iraq. Dyrek will accompany his brother back to his home and his final resting place in Clarks sometime at the end of the week.
    Brent’s friend, Josh Lutjelusche, returned from Iraq in June, 2005. The 2004 High Plains graduate enlisted in the Army Reserves and talked with Zoucha about what to expect.
    “I talked to him about it right before he left,” Lutjelusche said. “Brent was probably the only person I know who was always for being a part of the military. He loved every part of it.”
    Lutjelusche got the call when he was doing Reserve drill exercises in Iowa. He was on the shooting range when his mom called with the news.
    “I just went up to my section sergeant and said ‘get me home. I don’t want to be here right now,’” Lutjelusche said.
    A soldier and a friend had made the ultimate sacrifice.
    “I’ve met people in the military who’ve died over there. That was kind of hard, but it’s never been this close to home,” Lutjelusche said of Zoucha’s death. “It wasn’t like this.”

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