"He couldn't beat Dad," joked Rocky Herrera's uncle, Dale Lee, who sat on the porch Wednesday with the family, reminiscing.

Angelo Herrera's last moments in person with his brother were while the two were fishing for trout in Utah.

"That's what we did all the time," he said. "It was the best."

Herrera's son, Matt, 22, remembered his dad as always trying to spend as much time as he could with his two sons in Utah while also living in Washington in recent years.

"Basically, he was a role model for the both of us," Matt Herrera said. He called his dad a "child at heart."

Herrera had one month of leave last May, and he visited family in Utah during that time. Before that, Rocky Herrera was home in January for his father's funeral.

Last weekend Jeri Herrera received a short, casual e-mail from her brother in Afghanistan. "He sounded in good spirits," she said. "He said, 'It's like camping."'

Rocky Herrera leaves behind a wife, Traci, and two daughters, Tristan and Clairissa, at his home in Lacey, Wash., near Olympus and Fort Lewis, where he was stationed. He also leaves behind a second son, Mark, 20.

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E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com