SOME GAVE ALL

On June 1, 2007, Staff Sgt. Travis Atkins allowed his training to take over and sacrificed his life and saved the lives of the other members of his squad.

On a route clearance mission, Sgt. Atkins, 31, and his squad came upon four men suspected as insurgents. Sgt. Atkins and his team approached them for questioning — when one man, with a bomb strapped to his chest, ran.

Sgt. Atkins caught the man with the bomb and engaged in hand-to-hand combat, but during the struggle the bomb was detonated — killing both. Another insurgent, who also was wearing a suicide bomb, was shot and killed by a different soldier in the squad, according to the official account of the incident.

"I think he worked very hard to be a good staff sergeant and he cared for the safety of his men," said Elaine Atkins, Sgt. Atkins's mother. "I think that was paramount in his mind. He loved the military and he was very concerned for the safety of his men and that really drove him."

For his actions, Sgt. Atkins posthumously will receive the Distinguished Service Cross during a ceremony on Fort Drum this morning. The award is the second-highest military award next to the Medal of Honor.

Brig. Gen. Michael Harrison, a former 10th Mountain Division deputy commander, will present the medal and official citation to Sgt. Atkins's parents, Jack and Elaine Atkins, and his 12-year-old son, Trevor.

Sgt. Atkins, from Bozeman, Mont., was with Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division and was stationed in what is known as the Triangle of Death in southern Iraq.

According to Mr. and Mrs. Atkins, their son's squad was on a mission seeking information on missing soldiers from the 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team. Those soldiers were Sgt. Alex R. Jimenez and Spc. Bryon W. Fouty, who were captured on May 12, 2007. The bodies of Sgt. Jimenez and Spc. Fouty were found this July.

"Travis was trying to talk to them (the suspected insurgents) and get information about the missing soldiers, when the incident happened," Mrs. Atkins said. "They ran and Travis decided they were not going to get away, and Travis ran and tackled one and that's when it happened."

Staff Sgt. Gregory J. Duckson, who had served under Sgt. Atkins since May 2006, said he was in a Humvee that day when he heard Sgt. Atkins's voice come over the radio and describe four men walking toward the vehicles.

"He got out (of his Humvee) because these four guys were walking up the road kind of strange," Sgt. Duckson said. "He told them to come over and they didn't. That's when one of them ran and when Atkins followed. They had a little tussle and then Atkins brought him down."

Sgt. Duckson said it didn't surprise him that Sgt. Atkins was the one to tackle the insurgent.

"He was a smaller guy but he was aggressive and he had the mentality that he would take down anyone if he had to," he said. "I don't know if he knew it was a suicide bomber. He may have. Regardless, he still took the guy down."

When Mr. and Mrs. Atkins were told what had happened, they were in disbelief. Most shocking to them was that their son had made it through several other incidents unharmed, including two improvised explosive device attacks. It was his second deployment to Iraq and he had survived the early months of the invasion in 2003 with the 101st Airborne Division.

Jennifer L. Schultz, Sgt. Atkins's sister, reacted to his death in the same way.

"There were mixed feelings. The way he died was quite tragic and it didn't make it better or justify it, but hearing that he was the leader and rushed in to stop this guy — that was just Travis," she said. "That didn't surprise me at all."

A NATURAL FIT

Sgt. Atkins joined the Army in 2002 after he worked for a concrete contractor and as a small engine mechanic. To those around him, the Army was a natural fit.

"There have been several military people in our family, and it's a concern because you know what the possibilities are," said Mr. Atkins, who served in Vietnam. "Being in the infantry is a risky business, but Travis was an adventurous person."

The incident that took his life happened only a few hours after Mr. and Mrs. Atkins spoke with their son for the last time. Mrs. Atkins said like other phone calls, which came every few days, it was about 3 a.m.

"He was going to be the best man at his friend's wedding and he wanted me to make sure there was enough money in his checking account so he could buy a new pair of dress blues," she said.

"With the packages I sent him I would put in two or three books on military history," she said. "He said that they had been so busy with things that I should stop sending books for a while. He wanted me to know that he just got the last package of goodies and that he appreciated it."

There is a 10-hour time difference between Iraq and mountain time zone and an 11-hour time difference to the West Coast, where Sgt. Atkins's sister lives. Often, her brother would call in the middle of the night and have to leave a message on her phone. Mrs. Schultz still has the last message he left saved in her voice mail box:

"Hey, it's your bro. Just wanted to check in with you and let you know that me and the boys are good."

As children, Mrs. Schultz and her brother would spend hours outside playing together. She would go on adventures with him — but "he was always the driver and I was always the passenger. We would play Army in our tree fort, and if I was lucky he would promote me up through the ranks."

Her favorite memory was when the two decided they were old enough to go on an overnight hike without their parents. They chose Ramshead Lake, outside of Big Sky, Mont., and camped out at the bottom of the trail head. At the end of the next day, after their hike, Sgt. Atkins challenged his sister to jump into the lake and said he would only after she did — this was the first time she could remember when he agreed to be a follower.

"I jumped in first and it was so cold that I couldn't tell which way was up and which way was down," Mrs. Schultz said.

"He asked how it was and I told him it was fine, gritting my teeth the whole time. He jumped in and we both screamed our way out of the lake. We spent that night around a campfire, telling scary stories. We were in grizzly country, but I just remember feeling so safe with him."

The last time she saw her brother was when he was home on leave in January 2007. She and her husband live in Vancouver, Wash., with their 3-month-old daughter, and made the trip to Montana. Per tradition, they planned a snowmobile trip. Mrs. Schultz said her brother spent every chance he could with his family and she didn't realize until after his death how devoted and family-oriented he was.

Mr. and Mrs. Atkins recalled his love of everything outdoors. Fishing, hunting, hiking, snowmobiling — anything that involved being outside. They said he was an amazing hunter and an excellent marksman.

THERE FOR HIS MEN

Sgt. Duckson remembered his sergeant as someone who was always there for his men, pushing them and making sure they were the most prepared for combat. He said there was never a time when soldiers in Delta Company were sitting around with nothing to do, because Sgt. Atkins made sure they were doing some kind of training.

This was Sgt. Duckson's second deployment to Iraq, but it was the first time he lost a friend in combat. Sgt. Duckson was promoted from sergeant to staff sergeant a week before the incident, and he said Sgt. Atkins helped him prepare for the review board.

"When I went to the promotion board, he was the one to pound things into my head and have me go over the same question again and again," Sgt. Duckson said. "He was a good leader and was all about his soldiers. He was one of the guys who was all about his job and he had a lot of knowledge and that's what drew me towards him."

His family said they will remember Sgt. Atkins as a father, brother and son, someone who loved fishing, hunting, being outdoors and sharing those experiences with his own son, Trevor. His sister, Mrs. Schultz, said she thinks that's the most important thing. He got to share the things he loved with his son. He would take Trevor on snowmobiling and hunting trips, passing on his passion for the sports, just like his father, Jack, had passed them on to him.

Mrs. Schultz said that to really understand her brother, you had to understand their father. Jack had served in Vietnam, and moved to Montana to be a smoke jumper and attend law school in the 1970s. He had taught his son how to shoot, fish and appreciate the outdoors.

"When we were growing up, my father was my brother's hero," Mrs. Schultz said. "But somewhere in the transition of my brother joining the Army and all of his achievements, somewhere along the way, my brother became my father's hero."