Service today for fallen soldier

Family and friends of Joshua Robert Rodgers are to gather at Douglas High School this morning to say good-bye to the 29-year-old chief warrant officer who died May 30 when his CH47 Chinook helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan.

Rodgers' body, accompanied by his wife Casey Rodgers, was returned to Minden-Tahoe Airport on Thursday night.

Friends and relatives were on hand for the 6 p.m. arrival, including 17 members of the 3rd General Support Aviation Battalion, 82nd Brigade Combat Team in Fort Bragg, N.C., Rodgers' unit.

The Nevada National Guard sent a dozen members and the Douglas County Sheriff's Office and Nevada Highway Patrol escorted a motorcade from the airport to FitzHenry's Funeral Home in Gardnerville.

After she stepped off the aircraft, Casey Rodgers - with one of her three daughters in her arms - walked over and embraced three motorcycle riders who stood at attention holding American flags.

Tom Burch, a member of the Patriot Guard, said he rode from Rescue, Calif., to Minden to pay his respects.

"We're here with the permission of the family to show our honor and respect for a fallen hero," he said Thursday.

Burch said he hoped to be able to make the 90-mile trip for today's service which begins at 10 a.m.

Joshua Rodgers was born Feb. 17, 1978, in Sun Valley, Calif., to Dan and Debbie Rodgers. He lived in Carson City most of his life and attended Carson High school his freshman year.

Rodgers graduated from Douglas in 1997 with Casey Gilder who was his high school sweetheart.

They married in October 1997 and were living in Fort Bragg.

Prior to graduating from Douglas, Rodgers signed up through the delayed entry program to join the U.S. Army.

Rodgers served four years as an enlisted infantryman, then moved back to the area and worked as a corrections officer for two years.

He re-enlisted in the Army, served a year in Iraq and was deployed to Afghanistan in January.

He is survived by his wife, three daughters Madison, Autumn, and Ashlyn, mother and stepfather Debbie and Ben Walker, father and stepmother Dan and Wanda Rodgers, stepsister Jessica Walker, half brothers Matt and Jordan and half sister Sara, aunts and uncles Susie and Mike McElfish, Ron Moshier, Jimmy and Kathy Moshier and Linda Moshier and numerous relatives from the Rodgers, Walkers and Gilder families.

DETAILS

A memorial service is set for 10 a.m. Sunday at Douglas High School in Minden for Chief Warrant Officer 2 Joshua Rodgers, 29, who was killed May 30 when the helicopter he was co-piloting was shot down in Afghanistan.