Army Sgt. Brandon Allen Parr of West Valley City was killed Saturday in Iraq while on patrol, Army Reserve officials announced Monday.

Parr was on his second deployment to Baghdad after joining the Army in August 2003. He and two other soldiers were killed when the armored vehicle they were traveling in was hit by an improvised explosive device.

"I think he would have gone (to Iraq) even if he knew this was going to be the outcome," Parr's mother, Teota Dangel, said in a statement released to the media Monday night.

Parr, 25, was an Army specialist when he died and had recently competed for a promotion to the rank of sergeant, which he was posthumously awarded Sunday.

Shannah Parr, his wife of nearly six years, said her husband was prompted to join the Army by the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

"He felt it was something he needed to do," she said. "He did not go for political reasons. He went for his brothers and sisters."

The two met at a dance club in Salt Lake City and dated for six months before they were married. They have one son, 4-year-old Nicholas. Shannah Parr described her husband as "very laid-back" and "very funny. He made everyone feel good."

"He would say, 'The best things in life are getting over, good food and good beer,"' Shannah Parr said.

The couple lived in Bamberg, Germany, before Parr's first deployment to Baghdad in 2004.

"He loved life and family," his wife said. "He was a great father and husband."

He was an active duty soldier, assigned to the 360th Military Police Company, 759th Military Police Battalion of the 89th Military Police Brigade, according to Reserve spokesman Claude McKinney of the 96th Regional Readiness Command in Salt Lake City. McKinney said details about the explosion in Iraq remain under investigation and are not readily available.

"That may take several days, even into weeks to complete," he said.

Funeral arrangements for Parr are pending.

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E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com; wleonard@desnews.com