Mother of MacDill airman killed in Iraq says son was "very, very dedicated"

[Photo by ANTHONY LACHICA]
In Iraq, 1st Lt. Joe Helton’s job was to help train Iraqi police. In a blog post, he wrote that Iraqis were “just like us on a basic, human level.” He was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad.

Mother of MacDill airman killed in Iraq says son was "very, very dedicated"
By Michael Kruse, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Thursday, September 10, 2009
TAMPA — Back when he was a senior in high school in Monroe, Ga., Joe Helton told his mother he thought the Air Force Academy in Colorado was too far away. He had three sisters. His parents were divorced.

"He felt like he had to stay around home and take care of the girls and me," his mother, Jiffy Helton, said Wednesday night on the phone from Georgia. "He felt like he was the man of the house."

She said go.

"I told him," she said, "he had a life to lead."

Helton, 24, died Tuesday in Iraq while on patrol when a roadside bomb exploded in Baghdad, the Department of Defense announced Wednesday. He was in the 6th Security Forces Squadron out of MacDill Air Force Base. He had been stationed at MacDill since 2007, base spokeswoman Rebecca Heyse said.

This was his first tour in Iraq. He volunteered to go.

Col. Lawrence Martin of the 6th Air Mobility Wing called Helton "an amazing airman," saying in a statement: "We are deeply saddened by his loss and very proud of his service."
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MacDill airman killed in Iraq