28, of Waterloo, Iowa; assigned to the 184th Ordnance Battalion, 52nd Ordnance Group, Fort Bragg, N.C.; killed Feb. 23 when an improvised explosive device detonated in Tuz, Iraq.

Waterloo soldier killed in Iraq

Associated Press

WATERLOO, Iowa — A Waterloo soldier was killed in Iraq as he worked to clear a road of land mines, his father said.

Sgt. Eric Steffeney, 28, died Wednesday when an undetected roadside mine north of Baghdad exploded, Gary Steffeney of Waterloo, said Thursday. The father said his son was checking on another nearby mine that had been intentionally detonated when the second one exploded.

 

   Eric Steffeney served in the Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit, which finds, disarms detonates unexploded munitions, according to the EOD’s Web site. “He was a dedicated kind of man,” Gary Steffeney said. “He married his wife, who already had two kids he adopted and they had one of their own.

You never would have known they weren’t his kids.” Steffeney is the 22nd Iowan killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. Gary Steffeney last saw his son more than a year ago when he came to Davenport on a security detail for a visit by President Bush.

 

Eric Steffeney attended West High School in Waterloo, where he played center for the football team. His father described him as a tall, stocky man who loved to hunt, fish, read and be with his friends. He enlisted in the Army and became a paratrooper after graduating from high school early in 1996. He eventually wound up in the Army’s bomb squad, his father said.

“He was a very sincere and cautious individual who wanted to learn as much as he could,” said his father. “He was very concerned with his men. He had one that got hurt a while back and he would call to check on him periodically.”

 

         Eric Steffeney’s second tour in Iraq would have ended in April, when he was scheduled to return to his family in North Carolina. He and his wife had recently bought a home just outside of Fort Bragg, where he was stationed.