ROCKSPRINGS, Texas � When the father of a southwest Texas soldier saw a military representative at his front door, he realized the news that Army parents dread most had arrived at his home.

�Ronnie went to the door and saw the uniform, and he walked away,� his wife, Terri, said Wednesday, �like he was trying to wish him from the porch.�

The message, delivered Sunday to the Rocksprings couple, was that their son, Sgt. Cody Eckhart, 25, was killed Saturday in Iraq. Eckhart, who was stationed at Vilseck, Germany, was a cavalry scout with F Troop, 4th Cavalry, his mother said.

The soldier, who conducted reconnaissance, had survived missions in Bosnia and Kosovo. He had been in...