Menu
Soldier 'gave his all, trying to do his job'
Courageously, Sgt. Randy Matheny's family gathered before cameras and reporters Friday afternoon and asked that their son, their brother, their friend be remembered as "a hero ... a young man who stared fear in the eye and still did what his country asked him to do."
"He was always high speed," his dad, Gary Matheny, murmured during a press conference at the Nebraska National Guard armory in McCook. "He didn't talk about much except the military," his sister, Karen, said quietly.
Sgt. 1st Class Megan Bowers, a close friend of Karen and a spokesperson for the family since Randy's death in Baghdad late Sunday, Feb. 4, said that Randy will be remembered as "a man who fought for his country. He gave it his all, trying to do his job."
Matheny, the 20-year-old son of Jan and Duane Collins and Gary Matheny and his fiancé Kay Chambers, died Feb. 4 when an improvised explosive device detonated next to the armored security vehicle in which he served as a gunner. He was a 2004 graduate of McCook Senior High.
Funeral services have not been finalized.
Dressed in their desert camouflage fatigues, Randy's sister, 27-year-old Karen, a National Guard staff sergeant, and his brother, 24-year-old Paul, a private first class in the regular Army, stood at ease, quietly ... proudly as reporters asked them about their little brother.
Karen is serving her second tour of duty in Iraq, and Paul is preparing now to deploy. Alert to topics that could cause tears to fall, Bowers answered most questions. Bowers described Randy as "a quiet man ... liked by everyone .. didn't do much damage to the community." "He wanted to be the best," Bowers said, and he wanted, particularly, to keep up with or, in a good-natured way, even outdo his big sister. "Randy looked up to his sister," she said.
The military gave Randy a focus, Bowers said.
Bowers said the Matheny and Collins families were and are very supportive of the military and of Randy's service. "This was what Randy was supposed to do," she said. "It's phenomenal knowing that your family supports your choice, your decision to put on this uniform."
"That's the ultimate feeling," she said, "knowing that your family is behind you 100 percent."
Randy Matheny joined the Nebraska Army National Guard in March 2005, and was deployed to Iraq in October 2006.
Bowers said that it is Guard policy that soldiers serve one year "boots on ground" in the foreign country into which they are deployed. Most soldiers come home on 15-day leaves at some time during that year.
Bowers said that Randy planned on taking his leave for his 21st birthday -- his birthday was June 9, 1986, Karen said -- and "ride the heck out of that motorcycle," motioning to the powerful yellow-and-black Suzuki 750 crouching, ready to spring, in the Armory's main hall.
"It was dangerous and fast," she said, with a grin, when asked what Randy liked about motorcycles. "Karen will take responsibility for the 'cycle from now on," Bowers said, and added, smiling at Karen, " ... after a few lessons from me."
Randy also liked Cadillacs, Bowers said; his was a '91 deVille, "white," his dad said, "with red interior." Randy often borrowed his grandma's Cadillac, too.
Randy called home from Iraq often, whenever he got a chance, Bowers said,. He was known by many fellow soldiers by his telephone code. "Hey, 'M9090,' howya doin'?," she said, grinning.
Bowers said Randy may have made a career out of the military. "He probably didn't want to deploy over and over again," she said, but he didn't necessary want to get out of the military.
Karen said, taking a deep breath, "He didn't talk about much except the military." Karen, who was home on leave when Randy was killed in Iraq, said she will return to Iraq. "I've only got a short extension on my emergency leave," she said.
Paul said, in response to the same question about his future, "I'll do whatever my task is. Whatever the Army tells me to do, I'll do it."