Lt. Col. Anthony Lee "Tony" Sherman

304th Civil Affairs Brigades, U.S. Army Reserves, Philadelphia

Died: Aug. 26, 2003 in Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, Age 43

Civil Affairs is an under-reported yet vitally important element of the U.S. war machine. The military's white-collar workers have extensive backgrounds in engineering, medicine, political science and economics. When the Bush administration speaks of "reconstruction," they are referring to the work done by these soldiers who gather hard data about life in the targeted nation; once boots hit the ground, they deal with the government and its citizens. This was Tony Sherman's world.

Born at the Valley Forge military hospital, his sailor father moved the family from base to base. In need of money upon his 1978 graduation from an Iowa high school, Tony enlisted in the Army. Assigned to the technical branch of the medical service corps, he became a field medical assistant who provided communications and technical assistance to soldiers and medics. Promoted to major in the late 1980s, he went the reservist route and enrolled at La Salle University, graduating with an education degree. He was planning to go for a master's in international peacekeeping and conflict resolution when he met his future wife, Lisa Ann Droege, through a book-lover's pen-pal club. They married in 1990, while he was on standby for the first Gulf War. Five years later, he was deployed to Bosnia and later spent a year in Kosovo, but after 9/11, whispers amongst the Civil Affairs ranks were clear: War with Iraq was coming.

In February 2003, he was deployed to Camp Arifjan where, though it was a $200 million state-of-the-art facility, troops lived in refitted warehouse containers and were frequently targeted by terrorists. An accomplished triathlete, he'd maintained a rigorous exercise schedule and diet at home. In Arifjan, he spent many sleepless nights planning fly-by-night missions across the border and eating mess-hall slop. Preparing to return Stateside for a two-week leave—and his 13th wedding anniversary—he suffered massive heart failure. Initially, investigators suspected complications from his military-issued anthrax vaccine, but it turned out his heart had clogged with cholesterol.

"Everyone who's gone over there has come back very changed," says Lisa Ann. "They feel that their hands were tied and that they didn't do enough. … Nevertheless, in answering for Tony—and myself—was it worth it? Yes. Dying on active duty, trying to help others, was what he would have wanted."