From Deseret News archives:
BYU graduate killed in Afghanistan
Family and friends of Army Capt. Cory J. Jenkins, a 2003 graduate of BYU, are paying tribute to the 30-year-old physician assistant who was killed in Afghanistan earlier this week.
"Cory was very much a people person," said his father, Stanley Jenkins, of Mesa, Ariz.
The Pentagon said Cory Jenkins died Tuesday in southern Afghanistan of wounds suffered when the vehicle he and three other soldiers were riding in hit an improvised explosive device. Jenkins was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, at Fort Lewis, Wash.
He leaves behind a wife, Brooke, and 2-month-old daughter, Reagan. Jenkins was able to spend a month with his daughter before he was deployed to Afghanistan five weeks ago, his father said.
Cory Jenkins and his family were living in Steilacoom, Wash., near Fort Lewis, where he was a Scoutmaster in his LDS Church ward before his deployment, his father said. The soldier was an active member of the LDS Church and had served a mission to Russia.
He graduated from BYU with a bachelor's degree in conservation biology, said BYU spokeswoman Carri Jenkins. He also graduated from A.T. Still University's physician-assistant program, according to The Associated Press.
Jenkins is the third former BYU student to die in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan:
Navy Lt. Nathan White was killed in Iraq April 2, 2003, when his F/A-18 Hornet was shot down by an American Patriot missile
Army Capt. Bill Jacobsen Jr. died Dec. 21, 2004, when an insurgent detonated a bomb in an Army mess tent in Mosul, Iraq
Stanley Jenkins said his son was interested in medical service and felt the military was the best way to get the training he needed.
"He wanted to do what doctors do, but he wanted have a family life, as well," the father said. "He had no regrets with anything he did. He loved being in the military and serving with the men in the military."
Funeral services are pending but will probably be held sometime next week in Mesa.
e-mail: mhaddock@desnews.com
