2 Connellsville-based guardsmen died for love of their country

Bryan Hoover and Robert Fike served in the military together for years, dedicated to defending their country. Although they lived more than 100 miles apart, they died together during a suicide bombing Friday in Afghanistan while on their second tour of duty together.

The two served as military police with the Pennsylvania Army National Guard’s Company C, 1st Battalion, 110th Infantry, based in Connellsville. Hoover, 29, of Lyndora, Butler County, a staff sergeant, was an assistant track and cross-country coach at his high school alma mater; Fike, 38, of Conneautville, Crawford County, a sergeant first class, worked as a corrections officer at SCI Albion in Erie County.

“They both died doing what they loved,” said Sgt. Lucas Murtaugh, who was assigned to the 28th Military Police Company with the men. “They are outstanding people who loved their country and will be missed.”

A male suicide bomber dressed in a burqa — traditional Arabic women’s outerwear — detonated the explosives Friday morning in the Bullard Bazaar in Zabul Province in southern Afghanistan, military officials said. At least two civilians died and 16 others were injured. Hoover and Fike were on a foot patrol when the blast occurred. A third soldier from the Connellsville unit, Pfc. Anthony Spangler of Centre County, was wounded but has returned to duty.

Hoover, a former active-duty Marine, enlisted in the Army National Guard in March 2005. He received a bachelor’s degree in sports management from California University of Pennsylvania and was an assistant coach at Elizabeth Forward High School, from which he graduated in 2000. Students erected a makeshift memorial at the school Saturday after hearing of Hoover’s death.

“He was a great young man and a great coach and role model. He’ll be sadly missed,” said Kerry Hetrick, athletic director at the high school. “The kids looked up to him. He was always visible and working with the students.”

Bryan and Rick Hoover looked out for their younger brother, Ben, an athlete at Elizabeth Forward, said Hoover’s aunt, Blanche Hoover. Just before his deployment, Hoover moved from West Elizabeth to Butler County with his fiancee, Ashley Pack, said his brother, Rick. Bryan was an avid sports fan who enjoyed playing hockey and running, Rick Hoover said.

“He was a great guy who enjoyed life,” Rick Hoover said. “It was his childhood dream to be in the military — that was all we ever played as kids. It was what he lived and died for.” Rick Hoover said the unit deployed to Afghanistan in the fall.

Bryan Hoover was a good role model, his aunt said, never swearing and always behaving like a “perfect gentleman.”

“Bryan was so caring. Anything you ever needed, he’d do,” said Blanche Hoover. “He was so respectful … and Bryan really believed in what he was doing.”

That is something he shared with Fike. Everything about Fike’s military career reflected a willingness to sacrifice. Each month, Fike made a roughly two-hour drive to specialized drills with the 20th Military Police Company in Johnstown.

“Sgt. Fike was, obviously, very proud of his work. I think the drive from his home to Johnstown was minuscule compared to his love for being a military policeman,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Timothy Hileman, senior enlisted adviser of the 2nd Brigade Special Troops Battalion.

Fike’s love of the military, in general, was ever-present, said his father, James Fike of Trafford.

“I think it was always there,” said Fike, 63, a retired sergeant major in the Guard and a veteran of the Vietnam War. “He’s third-generation military. ”

Robert Fike’s paternal grandfather, the late Ross Fike Jr., and his maternal grandfather, the late Joe Balkovec, served in World War II.

Robert Fike will be remembered as a lover of the outdoors and an avid hunter and fisherman who would often wet a line at nearby lakes with his 12-year-old daughter, MacKenzie. A 1989 graduate of Penn-Trafford High School, Fike went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in organic chemistry from Edinboro University in 1992 before joining the Guard in September 1993.

Both men will add a posthumous purple heart to a long list of military awards. In his 16 years of service, Fike served two overseas tours — Saudi Arabia from 2002 to 2003 and Iraq from 2007 to 2008. While in Iraq, he served with Hoover. Murtaugh called the men “military friends” and said they always looked out for the best of the troops.

“If somebody was feeling down, (Fike) always tried to cheer them up,” Murtaugh said. “(Hoover) was always ready for the mission and never complained. They always looked out for the best for the men.”

James Fike spoke yesterday while traveling with his wife, Christine, to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to meet their son’s body.

“I think, under God’s law, there should have been another commandment that parents should not have to bury their children,” he said. “Today’s going to be a day of reckoning. So far, this has felt like kind of a surreal episode, like a dream you keep thinking you’ll wake up from. But today, we’re driving to greet him … see his flag-draped casket … and it’s all going to hit home.”