KANSAS CITY, MO -
A metro mother mourns after her oldest son was killed last Friday while serving in Afghanistan. Sgt. Aaron Smith, 25, of Manhattan, Kan. was on his second tour of duty in Afghanistan when he was killed.
He was supposed to be home on leave Oct. 12, but now, that's the day the family has scheduled a visitation.
Even in the midst of tragedy his mother, Ann Jones, can't help but smile when remembering her son.
"Always said that he wore his heart on his sleeve," she said. "Very gentle soul. Very caring. Kinda dorky sometimes. I always said he'd grow out of it!"
Jones was right because when Smith joined the Army five years ago, she said it made him grow up.
"When he became sergeant, he would call me and say, 'Mom, I'm raising these guys kind of like you did me,'" she said.
Jones couldn't wait to take good care of her son when he returned home, but on Friday, Sgt. Smith was killed when his unit came under attack in the mountains of Afghanistan near the Pakistani border.
"You see it on TV and you see guys coming up to give notification," she said, "but when you're walking up to them and you know that's what they're going to tell you, you just want to tell them 'No, shut up, don't say anything. I don't want to hear it.'"
Jones knows there's a heated debate about the future of the war. She said she trusts the President and his advisers to make the right decision but knows there are no easy answers.
After the family visitation in the metro, there will be a military burial for Sgt. Smith at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
He was supposed to be home on leave Oct. 12, but now, that's the day the family has scheduled a visitation.
Even in the midst of tragedy his mother, Ann Jones, can't help but smile when remembering her son.
"Always said that he wore his heart on his sleeve," she said. "Very gentle soul. Very caring. Kinda dorky sometimes. I always said he'd grow out of it!"
Jones was right because when Smith joined the Army five years ago, she said it made him grow up.
"When he became sergeant, he would call me and say, 'Mom, I'm raising these guys kind of like you did me,'" she said.
Jones couldn't wait to take good care of her son when he returned home, but on Friday, Sgt. Smith was killed when his unit came under attack in the mountains of Afghanistan near the Pakistani border.
"You see it on TV and you see guys coming up to give notification," she said, "but when you're walking up to them and you know that's what they're going to tell you, you just want to tell them 'No, shut up, don't say anything. I don't want to hear it.'"
Jones knows there's a heated debate about the future of the war. She said she trusts the President and his advisers to make the right decision but knows there are no easy answers.
After the family visitation in the metro, there will be a military burial for Sgt. Smith at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
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