UGa SPE dies in Fallujah

[hoosier]

Student killed in Fallujah

By DEEPIKA RAO
Published , November 22, 2004, 06:00:01 AM EDT


A University student who was serving in the Marines was killed in Fallujah, Iraq, Friday leaving his fraternity brothers without the one they affectionately called "Dad Arms."

Bradley Thomas Arms, a 20-year-old from Charlottesville, Va., left the University this past summer before his junior year to answer the call to go to Iraq with eagerness and a sense of duty, his brothers said.

Taylor Stanfill, a sophomore from Marietta and a Sigma Phi Epsilon brother, said Arms earned his nickname by being older than a lot of guys in his pledge class.

"He always acted like a dad; he was mature, and he always wanted to grow as a person," he said.

Arms' father, Bob Arms, said his son was determined to make the most of his life and saw the Marines as the ultimate vehicle both for improving himself and the world arond him.

Even the rigors of boot camp didn't dissuarde Arms from his goal of serving in the military.

"After he got back from boot camp, I asked him if it had been hard, and he just looked at me and said, 'Dad, it was so easy, all you have to do is what they say,'" said Bob Arms.

Arms was also passionate about the University, and even in Iraq, his thoughts never strayed too far from Athens.

"All Marines can take one personal item, Brad took the UGA flag to keep with him," said Bob Arms. "He also loved UGA football, and asked me to send him tapes of the games."

Through hand-written letters and e-mails to the fraternity Listserv, fraternity brothers got frequent insight into how life was for their friend overseas.

"He had a positive attitude about going to war; he had good morale about the whole thing," said Matt Tincknell, a senior from Savannah. "He definitely saw his purpose, and he was proud to be there defending his country, which gave us great comfort in knowing he wanted to be there."

In one of the e-mails dated Oct. 31 to the fraternity, Arms wrote the reasons he was in Iraq were becoming more clear to him every day as he was cheered on by children and given "cold stares" by older men.

"It's the future of this country that will be different down the road; it's extremely hard to change hearts that have hated for so long," he wrote in the e-mail. "But as long as we can keep younger generations open-minded, then we will win this war, even though the fruits of my labor will not be realized for many years when the children of this country now rule."

He also wrote his experiences at war "strengthened his resolve to live the life of a balanced man and lead by example."

Charlie Britt, a junior from Atlanta who shared a room with Arms at the Sig Eps fraternity house last spring, said he corresponded with Arms several times through letters and e-mail and even spoke to him on instant messenger two weeks ago.

"He'd always speak of coming home," Britt said.