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HONORING A Soldier who died while serving his Country
Barbara Ulbrich receiving the flag given to her from atop her son's casket.
Spc Scotty Ulbrich 23 died in Baghdad, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his military vehicle. He was assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Carson, Colorado. Died on June 5, 2005 was buried at Family Memorial Gardens Lowgap in Boone County June 15 2005.
June 8, 2005
By: Jacob Messer
The telephone rang Monday afternoon, breaking the silence inside the Ulbrich home.
Beth Ulbrich picked up the receiver and handed it to her mother after she learned the caller was Cap-tain Jeff Setser of the United States Army.
Setser wanted to give the mother and daughter up-to-the-minute details about the death of their son and brother, Brian Scott Ulbrich, 23, a private first class who became the first Boone County soldier to die in the United States’ war in Iraq.
With her cheeks stained by her tears and her words slurred by her weeping, Barbara Ulbrich listened and responded as well as she could. She hung up the receiver when the conversation ended, then put her head in her hands and began sobbing uncontrollably.
Beth Ulbrich walked into the unlit kitchen to console her mother, who was sitting in a chair in front of the table in the dark and dreary room. She wrapped her arms around her mother’s back, then started patting and rubbing it.
“He was telling me about all of the awards Scotty will receive and that he will present them to me at the funeral,” Barbara Ulbrich told her daughter. “I wanted to tell him that I don’t want the awards. I want my son. But I will never get him back. He is gone forever.”
Scotty Ulbrich, a calvary scout who was stationed be-tween 35 and 40 miles southeast of Baghdad, normally drove a Bradley Fighting Ve-hicle. But he found himself behind the wheel of a Humvee during his final mission Sunday morning, when a pair of roadside bombs ended his life far too early.
The first rocked his vehicle when it exploded; the second killed him and two of his colleagues when it detonated.
The incident occurred about 11:40 a.m. Iraq time or 3:40 a.m. West Virginia time. Army officials pronounced Scotty Ulbrich dead about 12:30 p.m. Iraq time or 4:30 a.m. West Virginia time.
“He would have stepped in front of the bomb to save the others,” his mother said.
Ulbrich is survived by his mother, sister and grandmother, Pearlene Rogers. He was preceded in death by his father, Barry; grandfather, Russell Rogers; grandfather Carl Ulbrich; and grandmother, Lois Trammel.
Army officials told Barbara Ulbrich that Sunday likely is the earliest she can have a service for her son, but no arrangements have been made for his wake or funeral.
But one thing is known: Both will be attended by hundreds of friends and relatives.
“He had more friends than a person could ever need,” his sister said.
Two of his lifelong pals called Ulbrich a fun-loving and kind-hearted young man who “never met a stranger.”
“He didn’t think he was better than anyone else,” Matt Epling said. “He had friends from all walks of life.”
“He was always smiling or laughing,” Justin Dalton said. “He could always make you smile or laugh. It didn’t matter how mad or sad you were. He would say something or do something to put you in a better mood. He was a great guy, and he will be missed.”
Ulbrich graduated from Scott High School in June 1999, then spent the next five years at Marshall University.
Few people – if any – have cheered as hard and as loud for the Skyhawks and Thundering Herd as Ulbrich, the rowdy sports fan whose school spirit carried into college from high school.
“He was our best cheerleader,” Scott High School principal Leonard Bolton said of Ulbrich, who also led Marshall University’s student section at football games at the request of its sports information director.
“He had as much or more school spirit as anyone who has ever gone to this school.”
In addition to sports, Ulbrich loved karate and earned a black belt in it. He also enjoyed riding motorcycles, climbing rocks, hunting, hiking, fishing and camping.
“Typical redneck stuff,” his sister joked.
“He loved life,” his mother added. “He lived it to its fullest.”
Ulbrich needed only another semester to graduate from college with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, which he hoped to parlay into a career with the Federal Bureau of Intelligence or Secret Service.
But he quit because of “burnout,” his mother said.
“He told me he was tired of school and wanted to go into the Army,” his mother said, “but he promised me he would finish school eventually.
“He wanted to go into the FBI or Secret Service, but he knew there was no guarantee that would happen. So, he felt the Army was as close as he would get to doing what he wanted to do.”
Ulbrich enlisted in January 2004 but didn’t leave for basic training until April 2004. He spent 18 weeks in Fort Knox in Kentucky, then went to Fort Carson in Colorado. He stayed there until Army officials deployed him first to Kuwait, then to Iraq in March 2005.
Ulbrich, who was known as Brick to his commanders and colleagues, received two awards during his three months in Iraq for uncovering two caches of weapons.
Although he served his country to the best of his ability, Ulbrich didn’t believe in the United States’ war in Iraq. He often told his mother and sister that during their daily telephone, e-mail or instant message conversations.
“He told me things were getting worse every day,” his sister said. “He told me the Iraqis didn’t want us over there and they tried to kill the Americans every chance they got. His exact words were, ‘This is not a war we should be fighting.’
“But the soldiers are there because they have to be there. It is their job, and they are going to do their job. I just hope no other families have to go through this.”
His mother wants an opportunity to speak with President George W. Bush.
“I would give him a piece of my mind,” she said, sobbing, “and he wouldn’t like what I would tell him.”
She blames Bush for the tragedy – a senseless death in a pointless war, she contends.
“There is no way to describe the pain we feel,” she said. “There is a hole in our lives that will never be filled.
“And for what?”
Photo took in Iraq
Boone County native and United States soldier Scotty Ulbrich poses in front of a cache of weapons he found in Iraq. Ulbrich and two of his colleagues died June 5, 2005 when the second of two roadside bombs explosed
Photo's of the Memorial Service.
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