Fort Mill Times -- Robert Bittiker enlisted in the North Carolina Army National Guard in 1990. This was his third combat deployment, having served in Bosnia and Iraq in 2004.

His mother, Mary Wheat, said she talked to her son on Father's Day.

"He said it was quiet around there, but I am not sure he didn't say that so we wouldn't worry," she told The Associated Press on Thursday night.

She said her son liked to fish, cheer for the Washington Redskins and work on an old beat-up truck and Ford Mustang.

"They were pretty rough and unfixable," she said. "But you probably couldn't convince him of that."

Bittiker's family has a history of service. His father served in the Marines and his mother worked for the Department of Defense.

"We all supported the mission there. He knew what he was doing was for a good cause and he believed in what he was doing," Wheat said.

Funeral arrangements for the four Soldiers are incomplete, the National Guard said in statement.

The 120th Combined Arms Battalion is part of North Carolina's 30th Heavy Brigade Combat team, headquartered in Clinton. The 30th consists of 4,000 soldiers, mainly from North Carolina, with additional troops from West Virginia and Colorado. The 30th mobilized at the end of last year and left North Carolina in late April. It is expected to return from the deployment in early 2010.