The Times-Picayune -- Pfc. Brian Bates’ career in the Army was one measured in months.

After working various offshore jobs, the 20-year-old West Bank resident decided to join the service last November to provide for his wife and two babies.

Just 11 months later, a flag-covered case bearing his body was saluted by President Barack Obama as it arrived on the tarmac at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware early Thursday.


Bates was among eight soldiers killed in the southern province of Kandahar on Tuesday in two separate roadside bombings. An IED — improvised explosive device — blew up his armored vehicle.

The Department of Defense announced that Sgt. Patrick O. Williamson, 24, of Broussard, also was killed.

Marline Tully, Bates’s grandmother, said the last time she spoke with him was Saturday.

He had called to thank her for the package of envelopes, dipping tobacco and washing detergent she had sent him, and he was making light of his situation.

“He said, ‘Now listen, I’m calling to check and let you know I’m breathing.’ ” Tully recalled. “ ‘But if I don’t call, I’m still breathing. And even if the Army comes to your house, there’s a possibility I could still be breathing.’

“But he’s not breathing,” said Tully, dissolving into tears as she looked at pictures of the man she had raised from the age of 4 at her Bellemeade home near Gretna.

Bates graduated from boot camp in March. After making the road trip to Washington state with Bates’ wife and children, Tully proudly pinned an infantry cord to the front of his olive-green dress uniform.

He reported to Ft. Lewis, Wash., in April. He hadn’t expected to be deployed to Afghanistan until early 2010, but then the orders came: he was shipping out July 15.

His wife quit college during her last semester to spend the last several months with him at Ft. Lewis.

After a two-week visit home in June and a trip with the family to Disney World, Bates landed at Forward Operating Base Ramrod as part of the Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team.

His job was to drive the Stryker, a tank-like armored vehicle as his team patrolled and pushed north into uncharted territory. He’d drive and his fellow soldiers would get out and investigate while he waited with the vehicle.

“His job, supposedly, was the safest job,” Tully said. “He thought it was extremely boring. He’d have to sit there with the Stryker and wait until they got back. I said, ‘Is it going to be safe?’ And he said ‘Oh yeah, M, I’m going to be safe in the Stryker. We do it all the time.’ ”

But three months into the tour, one of those patrol missions turned fatal.

“They never got to their point of destination,” Tully said. “But he was ready. He never complained about going over. I don’t think he even realized that this was war.”

Bates attended George Cox Elementary near Gretna and Livaudais Middle School in Terrytown and often played basketball, baseball and soccer at Oakdale Park.

He is survived by his wife, Enjolie, 21, his 2-year-old daughter and 1-year-old son. November would have marked the couple’s first anniversary.

She could not be reached for comment.

“The whole purpose of him joining the Army was being able to take care of his kids,” said Tully, who added that Bates had been forced to grow up fast when he had his first child at age 17. “And he really liked the Army. He was going to make a career out of it.”

He had been promoted to private first class last month.