Family: Beloit soldier killed in Afghanistan

MILWAUKEE — An Army specialist from Beloit who was motivated to join the military by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has been killed while serving in Afghanistan, his father said Monday.

David Kreinz said two military personnel visited his Beloit home on Father's Day to tell him and his wife, Marilyn, that their 21-year-old son, Tyler Kreinz, had been killed in action on Saturday. Kreinz said the family has yet to learn details about how his son died and that they planned to fly to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware Monday to receive his remains.

The Department of Defense said on Monday that Kreinz and three other soldiers died in Uruzgan province of injuries suffered in a vehicle roll-over. The soldiers were assigned to the 4th Battalion, 70th Armor Regiment, 170th Infantry Brigade Combat Team.

Kreinz said his son was just a youngster when terrorists attacked on 9/11.

"Being a 12-year-old kid, that opened up his eyes so much," Kreinz said. "That's all he talked about, was being in the military. I tried to talk him out of it hundreds of times, but he's my son and I've got to help him achieve his dreams."

Kreinz says his son joined the Army shortly after graduating from Beloit Memorial High School in 2008.

"He excelled in school and in any sport he was in, whether it was football or kickboxing," Kreinz said. "And he was a perfect gentleman."

Kreinz said his son loved hunting, fishing and the outdoors in general and had planned to attend the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point following his military service and study conservation.

"He wanted to serve in the military first before he went to college. There wasn't anything I could do to talk him out of it, so I had to back him up on it," he said.

Tyler Kreinz's tour in Afghanistan was due to end in February and he would have returned to his base in Baumholder, Germany, in April 2013, his father said.