A Wichita-area soldier, is the latest Kansas casualty in the war on terror

A 21-year-old Army soldier from the Wichita area died this week in Afghanistan.

SPC James Burnett Jr. attended Clearwater High School and joined the Army after graduating in 2009. His mother, Rebecca Metcalf, lives in Wichita with her husband, John Rogers.

Note: SPC James Burnett Jr. is the 82nd Kansas casualty in the war against terrorism, for a complete list of the Kansas Kia visit our complete database on our home website here Kansas KIA.

The Department of Defense said Burnett and Pfc. Matthew C. Colin, 22, of Navarre, Fla., died Wednesday in Kandahar province, Afghanistan. Burnett’s family said an improvised explosive device struck a Jeep in which he was riding in a convoy.

Burnett and Collins were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Wainwright, Alaska.

James Burnett Sr., the soldier’s father, and his stepmother, Cherie Burnett, live in Brownwood, Mo. They told the Daily Statesman in Dexter, Mo., they’d talked to their son just a few weeks ago.

“I’m in a bad place. Pray for me,” they remembered him saying.

Spc. Burnett was deployed in April with the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment from Fort Wainwright, Alaska.

Burnett, who turned 21 in September, had recently gotten engaged to Amy Keeler of Wichita.

“Miss an(d) love everyone so very much ... including you, Amy. Tell my dogs ill be home soon enough,” Burnett posted on his Facebook page Tuesday.

"He always went out of his way for everybody. When anyone needed anything, he was there for them. It didn't matter what they did to him," explains Burnett's mother, Rebecca Metcalf.

She and her husband John say they are incredibly proud of their son and say he died a hero.

"It was always a great sense of pride with what he chose to do with his life," said John.

Burnett first joined the Army Reserves when he graduated high school in 2009. He joined active duty about a year later.

His family says he had been serving in Afghanistan since April.

"That big smile, that's what I think about when I think of James," said Amy Keeler, Burnett's fiance.

"He didn't think with his head, he thought with his heart. He had the biggest heart I've ever seen," adds Kyle Clark, Burnett's friend.