Upon learning that he was being treated at an army hospital in San Antonio, Texas, Rachel took a vacation to visit him. Like the rest of the family, she had high hopes that Shannon would pull through and be home for Christmas.

But Shannon didn’t recover from his wounds. He died on August 28. He was buried with full military honors on September 5, in Virginia Beach where he was born.

That same day, the Associated Press reported that there have been 2,657 members of the U.S. military who have died since the beginning of the Iraq War in March 2003. According to his obituary in the “Washington Post”, this was Shannon’s second deployment to Iraq as a field artillery tactical data systems specialist. While in the Army, he earned numerous honors, among them a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.

Before enlisting, he worked in technical support for Gateway Computers.

“He loved taking apart, and putting back together, computers,” his father was quoted as saying. “He was infinitely curious and was always eager to work on his family’s cars. Once, he learned to change the timing belt by following directions from the internet. He was patient and good with his hands."

We have all been desensitized to daily reports of war casualties. Until we learn that one of them is close to someone we know. Then it comes close to home.

Rachel says that after graduating from Tallwood High School in 1999, Shannon wanted to serve in the Army. He believed in the brotherhood of service. He wanted to make a difference as he was going through some rough times in his life.

“But once in Iraq, he hated being there. He couldn’t wait to get out so he could come home, enroll at James Madison University and study computers or cars. He loved both. He didn’t want to quit, though. He wanted to finish the job, finish what he was sent there to do."

Shannon’s mother, Velma Sistoza Squires, is from Tondo, Manila . She’s a registered nurse, and is divorced from her husband, Ralph Squires. His younger brother Mark is a full time student and works part time as a waiter.

Rachel saw his cousin twice while he was struggling to get well in San Antonio . “I told him about our mutual friends, the movies I saw and the music that just came out," she recalls. “On my second visit in August, I took my 7-year old son, Marcus, with me but he wasn’t allowed in the room. Shannon is his ‘ninong’(godchild). I talked to him about what we would do when he got out of the hospital. Although he wasn’t totally conscious, he’d always make me laugh by making funny gestures. Each and every time, on both trips, I told him I loved him and that he was safe now. A week after I left, I was told that he woke up and started eating and  talking. But a few days later, he passed on.

“Every day, I tell my son how great a person Shannon is. Marcus remembers all the fun times they had. I don’t know if I would discourage him from enlisting in the Army if he chose to do so one day.

After losing my cousin, of course, I’d be hesitant. I still have to Think, what If a draft happens when he’s 18?"

Rachel has another cousin serving in Iraq .

With the anniversary of September 11 coming up, I asked Rachel what’s going through her mind. “There would have been no Iraq War if there was no September 11," she says. “My cousin would still be alive. I hated this war then. I hate it even more so now. It took away someone close to me, someone I grew up with, someone so young and full of promise. That’s what hurts."

In one of his last e-mails to friends, the Post’s Obituary noted, he wrote that he had less than one year left on his Army contract and that he was a Scorpio who loved long walks on the beach. “And,” he wrote, “my life is not any way near being complete.”