Patrick D. Deans: Orlando soldier killed in Afghanistan

Patrick D. Deans of Orlando was killed Sunday in Afghanistan. (U.S. Army / December 14, 2010)

Patrick D. Deans: Orlando soldier killed in Afghanistan
Spc. Patrick D. Deans, whose father is a corporal with the Orange County Sheriff's Office, was killed Sunday in the Kandahar province of Afghanistan.

By Gary Taylor and Susan Jacobson, Orlando Sentinel
7:59 p.m. EST, December 14, 2010

It's clear from Spc. Patrick D. Deans' Facebook page that he understood the danger inherent in becoming a soldier.

"A Veteran is someone, who at one point in their life, wrote a blank check payable to the United States of America for an amount up to, and including their life," Deans posted on his wall Nov. 10. "That is beyond honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer remember that fact."

A little more than a month later, Deans was one of six soldiers killed in Kandahar province, Afghanistan by a suicide bomber. He died Sunday, two days before his 23rd birthday.

Deans served in Iraq during his first tour of duty and was sent to Afghanistan after he reenlisted, said Butch Herdegen, 23, one of Deans' closest friends.

The only child of Patrick M. Deans, a corporal with the Orange County Sheriff's Office, and his ex-wife, Robyn Deans, of Seminole County, Deans grew up in east Orange County.

The family moved to Narcoossee in east Osceola County, where Deans attended Harmony High and played on the school football team. He moved back to east Orange with his dad and graduated in 2006 from Timber Creek High, Herdegen said.

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Patrick D. Deans: Orlando soldier killed in Afghanistan

also another solider from Florida, Specialist Jorge E. Villacis, 24, of Sunrise, killed in same attack



Soldier from Sunrise killed in Afghanistan