Staff Sgt. Amy Seyboth Tirado, served with her husband

Death quiets hero's music
Staff Sgt. Amy Seyboth Tirado, who played Taps, comes home at last

By DENNIS YUSKO, Staff writer

First published in print: Saturday, November 7, 2009

COLONIE -- Someone else will have to play Taps.

Staff Sgt. Amy Seyboth Tirador was remembered Friday as a determined soldier who was passionate about her job, family and hometown. She is the first woman soldier in the Capital Region to die in Iraq.

The 29-year-old Albany native grew up with sports and music at South Colonie High School, and had played Taps on her trumpet at the funerals of family members who were veterans of World War II, her father Gerard Seyboth recalled.

Tirador also played the instrument in church and excelled in softball and lacrosse. She grew up to become an Army medic, and helped save the life of a soldier while taking arms fire in Iraq during an attack on an American convoy. She also volunteered to return to Iraq in August as an Arabic-speaking interrogator, a job she would not talk about, her father said.

Amy Tirador deployed to Iraq in 2004 with the Army's First Infantry Division. She provided medical support for escorts on convoys, a dangerous job in an environment of roadside bombs and snipers.

"She had no problems with it," her father recalled. Amy Tirador returned happy, and her family threw a welcome back party in the Joseph E. Zaloga Post 1520 on Everett Road.

A few years later, she met her husband on a military base. They moved to Washington before deploying together.

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