U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 0182-08
March 05, 2008

DoD Identifies Army Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

They died March 3, 2009, in the Sabari District of Afghanistan, of wounds suffered during combat operations. They were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

            Killed were:

Specialist Steven R. Koch, 23, of Milltown, New Jersey (Postmously promoted to Corporal)

Sergeant Robert T. Rapp, 22, of Sonora, California

For more information media may contact the 82nd Airborne Division public affairs office at (910) 432-0661

His older brother had been working near the Twin Towers, and in the hours between the buildings' collapse and the news his brother had made it out alive, the high school student made a life-altering decision.

He would join the Army and fight for his country.

Seven years after making that promise, and two years after following through on it, Koch was remembered by friends and family members in Middlesex County as an unshakable patriot.

"He loved his country," Koch's mother, Christine, said yesterday, a day after the military announced her son's death in Afghanistan. "He said he would bleed on the American flag to keep the stripes red."

To Koch, a 23-year-old Corporal in the 82nd Airborne Division, it wasn't just talk, his family said. A page he kept on MySpace carried the Airborne Creed -- a paean to pride and honor -- along with quotations from Winston Churchill and a pledge to fight terrorism no matter the cost.

Christine Koch, worried about her son's safety, said she tried for years to keep him from enlisting. Early in 2006, Steven Koch decided he would no longer be stopped.

He deployed to Afghanistan in January of last year and was due home April 20, when he would be reunited with his wife, Amy, and the their 15-month-old daughter, Zoe.

"He was so determined to be the best," Amy Koch said yesterday in the couple's Spotswood apartment. "When he got to the top of something, he wanted to move on. He was going to try for Special Forces. I admired his determination."

As she spoke, blond-haired Zoe scampered from room to room, a mirror-image, Amy Koch said, of her father.

"She's all him," the wife said. "She's a go-getter. She'll go after something and try and try and try."

Steven Koch was at least the ninth service member with New Jersey ties to die in Afghanistan since the war began. An additional 88 service members with ties to the state have died in Iraq.

The military said Koch was killed Monday when a car bomb caused a wall to collapse on him in Sabari District, part of Khost Province in eastern Afghanistan. The region has been the scene of renewed fighting by the Taliban and other extremist groups.

A graduate of East Brunswick High School, Koch grew up in a tight-knit family that lived for a time in North Brunswick before settling in East Brunswick, by the Milltown border.

Koch, his brother, William, and a sister, Lynne, attended elementary school at Our Lady of Lourdes parish, where he was an altar boy and where his parents still volunteer. The soldier's funeral will be held there next week.

Despite the difficult conditions in Afghanistan, Koch loved soldiering and remained committed to the mission, his family said. A photo of Koch in uniform, standing before an American flag, takes a place of honor on the mantel of his parents' East Brunswick home.

"This was his destiny," Christine Koch said.

A family friend, Marianne Tellone, said the community has been hit hard by the death, with word filtering through the parish and schools. At East Brunswick High, she said, one teacher showed her class Koch's yearbook photo.

"I've had so many phone calls from people," Tellone said.

Amy Koch said she'd been looking forward to her husband's return home next month. In recent weeks, she said, the two spoke frequently, with Koch sometimes calling from Afghanistan twice a day. This week, the calls were from her husband's fellow soldiers offering their condolences.

The couple had planned to move near Fort Bragg, North Caroluna, where Koch was to be stationed, and already had an apartment picked out. Instead, she'll remain in New Jersey to raise Zoe.

Pointing to her daughter, Amy Koch said, "Be sure to say that she's going to know how proud we are of her dad, how he was a hero."

Steven R. Koch, a 23-year-old soldier from New Jersey scheduled to return home next month was killed in Afghanistan, military officials and family members said tonight.

Army Corporal Steven R. Koch, 23, of Milltown in Middlesex County, died Monday in the Sabari District of Afghanistan of wounds suffered during combat operations, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.

"My husband and I are very proud of our son," said his mother, Christine Koch, during a brief phone interview tonight. "He died for his country and he died loving his country."

An assistant gunner, Koch was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Defense Department officials said.

Koch is survived by a wife, Amy, and daughter, Zoe, both of Spotswood, military officials said. He also leaves a brother, William, and his parents, William and Christine Koch, all of Milltown.

Steven Koch had completed his 15-month tour of duty, and was due home next month, his mother said. "This is so difficult, it's too new, I hardly believe he's gone," Christine Koch said.

Defense Department officials said Koch died of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near the Sabari District Center. A second soldier, Sgt. Robert T. Rapp, 22, of Sonora, California, also was killed in the attack.

Koch is the 97th service member with ties to New Jersey killed in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. He was promoted posthumously to corporal from specialist, according to military officials.

"Corporal Koch was a highly dedicated paratrooper," said Captain Henry Rowland, the 1st Battalion, 508th PIR rear detachment commander. "He was dedicated not only to his profession but also in serving this great nation."

Koch joined the Army in March 2006. He arrived to the 82nd Airborne Division in August 2006, after completing Infantry One Station Unit Training and the Basic Airborne Course at Fort Benning, Georgia.

"He will be sorely missed by all of those who knew him, and our thoughts are with his family during their time of grief," Rowland said.

Koch's decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart, the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Good Conduct Medal and the National Defense Service Medal. He also was awarded the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, the Overseas Service Ribbon, the NATO Medal, the Combat Infantryman's Badge, and the Parachutist's Badge, military officials said.

Funeral services have been scheduled for Corporal Steven R. Koch, 23, of East Brunswick, New Jersey, who was killed last week in Afghanistan.

Visitation will be from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday at the Selover Funeral Home, 555 Georges Road, North Brunswick.

A funeral Mass will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday at Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Church in Milltown. Koch will be buried Friday at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

Koch was killed Monday when an improvised explosive device detonated near the Sabari District Center in Afghanistan, the Defense Department said. Sergeant Robert T. Rapp, 22, of Sonora, California, also was killed in the attack.

An assistant gunner, Koch was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the Defense Department said.

Koch had completed his 15-month tour of duty and was due home next month, his mother said last week.

Koch is survived by his wife, Amy, and 15-month-old daughter, Zoe; his parents, William and Christine Koch of East Brunswick; a brother, William Koch III of East Brunswick, and a sister, Lynne Koch of Hackensack.

He was at least the ninth service member with New Jersey ties to die in Afghanistan since the war began. An additional 88 service members with ties to the state have died in Iraq.

Koch joined the Army in March 2006. He came to the 82nd Airborne in August 2006, after completing Infantry One Station Unit Training and the Basic Airborne Course at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Courtesy of Christine Koch, A Proud Mom

"Tell a joke and she will laugh, But she is not okay, She wants to share the joke with me, 
But it will not be today. I watch from here, in Heaven. Her distress disturbs my peace.
Will someone please take care of her, And ...thus take care of me? "Some day you will feel better." 
"Yes I will." she lies. She knows this will not happen, Until the day she dies..."

KOCH, STEVEN R
CPL   US ARMY
DATE OF BIRTH: 10/25/1984
DATE OF DEATH: 03/03/2008
BURIED AT: SECTION 60  SITE 8557
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

"Arlington" By Trace Adkins In Tribute To Steven Robert Koch

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