"He Was Sent Back"

"‘My Brother Was Diagnosed With PTSD, Extreme Depression, And Still He Was Sent Back,’ She Said"

Fort Carson Deaths Include Twice-Wounded Soldier On Third Iraq Tour

FORT CARSON, Colo. -- One was a sergeant who had survived a sniper attack and a roadside bomb in two earlier combat tours in Iraq.


Another was a private counting down the days to May, when he and his wife would go on the honeymoon trip they had never had the chance to take.

The third was a Montana ranchhand who had bought his own ranch, but would never get to settle on it.

The three Fort Carson soldiers, all with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, died this week in combat in Iraq, although it was unclear Thursday if they were killed in the same attack.

Sgt. Ismael Solorio, 21, of San Luis, Ariz., died Monday during his third Iraq deployment, his older sister, Elvira Solorio said. She did not know how he died and the Department of Defense had not released details Thursday.

Pfc. Brian Lee Holden, 20, of Claremont, N.C., a gunner with the brigade’s 17th Field Artillery Regiment, was killed by a roadside bomb, his family said.

Pfc. Kyle G. Bohrnsen, 22, of Philipsburg, Mont., of the brigade’s 12th Infantry Regiment, died Tuesday after being wounded by a roadside bomb, the Pentagon reported.

"I’m not sure what I’m going to do," Holden’s widow, Amanda Holden, 19, said Thursday from their North Carolina home. "It’s really hard to be so young and have to go through this."

The couple had been married 13 months and had been saving every dime they made to buy a house, she said.

"He told me the other day he was ready to come home, buy a house, settle down and have kids," she said.

The two were planning a trip to Myrtle Beach, S.C., during his scheduled leave next month. She said it was going to be the honeymoon they were unable to take when they got married in March 2006, just months before he was sent overseas.

Those plans were changed when she returned home to find Holden’s mother and two Army officers in her living room.

"As soon as I saw them I knew," she said.

Her birthday is Saturday and she received a card from him this week.

While they were at Fort Carson together, she said they loved hiking the trails around Pikes Peak and taking their miniature pinscher to Memorial Park. He husband was never without a smile and had a knack for cheering people up, she said.

Solorio, a high school honor student, passed up college scholarships to join the Army, his sister said. With his parents’ permission, he enlisted at 17.

"I still can’t believe he’s gone," Elvira Solorio said from the family’s home in San Luis, Ariz., south of Yuma. "I think we all deep inside feel it’s not true. It’s not possible."


He enjoyed soccer, video games and playing his guitar along with Christian music CDs. He also recently bought a pool cue with hopes of honing his billiard skills.

Solorio’s family last saw him in January, when he was home on leave and was able to meet his infant daughter, Priscilla. Solorio had been home in September, hoping to be there when his daughter was born, but missed it by mere hours. He was on his way back to Fort Carson when his girlfriend went into labor.

"He was on the bus to Colorado, and we were in touch with him letting him know what was going on," Elvira Solorio said.

During his visit home in January, he married Priscilla’s mother, Iris.

"I think in his mind he had a feeling that something was going to happen," his sister said. "He wanted to leave his daughter protected. As soon as he got here, everything was very fast. He was only married two days before he was sent back."

In November 2004, he was shot in the head by a sniper and family members were told to be prepared for the worst. A bullet entered the side of his face and shattered his jaw and teeth.

His sister said he had "the biggest smile I know with no teeth." She said the family wonders how he could have been fit for a third tour; in another incident, he was hit by shrapnel from a roadside bomb. He was awarded two Purple Hearts.

"My brother was diagnosed with PTSD, extreme depression, and still he was sent back," she said of his third tour.

Elvira Solorio said her family will miss her brother’s generosity. When they were children, she said, her father would give them each $5 to spend on outings to the local swap meet. She spotted a music box for $10, and her brother gladly gave her his $5 to help her buy it. She still owns the box.

"One thing I know for sure is that he’s in heaven," she said, "because he deserved to be in heaven."

Bohrnsen, of Philipsburg, Mont., was an avid outdoorsman who loved hunting and fishing and bought land near his parents’ ranch for when he left the Army, family members said. "He just had the kind of personality that everybody liked," said Geoff Bohrnsen, his father.

A lineman on his high school football team, Bohrnsen joined the Army about a year ago and loved the soldier’s way of life, family said.

For Amanda Holden, the man she fell in love with at first sight when they worked at Petsmart was her life, and she’s unsure of what to do next.

"I keep thinking that, you know, he was my future. And now I don’t know what I’ve got."

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