SGT Christopher K. Hilgert

"A model son" is how Sgt. Christopher K. Hilgert, 27, is described by his father, Earl Hilgert.

"I never had a bit of trouble out of him. He was an avid sports fan . . . He was just a good kid."

Christopher Hilgert had served with an armored company in Germany, but decided he wanted to become a military policeman to learn a skill he could use outside the Army.

He went to college on scholarship, had been a member of the National Honor Society and was a top marksman, his father says. He'd been out of MP school just eight weeks when he learned he would be going to Somalia.

Christopher Hilgert died with three other MPs Aug. 9 on a routine patrol through Mogadishu. The Humvee they were traveling in ran over a remotely detonated bomb.

"Given a little more experience and time, he would have been one hell of a soldier," Earl Hilgert says.