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GH man trades in his paintbrush for Army rifle

Mar-13-2008 » Filed Under: 3/2 SBCT

Found this article via Mike Gilbert's blog.

Paige Richmond, The Gateway

Enlisting in the U.S. Army was not a decision that came lightly to Ezra Suko. In early February, the 26-year-old painter signed up for a three-year tour in the infantry with his 19-year-old brother, Elijah. As Suko tells it, he had been considering entering the military since August 2005. That was when his brother-in-law, Gabe DeRoo, was killed while serving in Iraq.

“The way he lived … he was an inspiration to us; definitely an inspiration,” Suko said. “I never thought of going in to the military before (his death).”

For most of his life, Suko did not see himself as the kind of man who would fight a war. A son of Discovery Baptist Church Pastor Mark Suko and a painter since he was 14, he described himself as “not the type to start conflicts.”

Generally quiet and shy, he spent his days painting landscapes from Gig Harbor, where he was born and raised with his seven siblings.

That quiet life changed 1 1/2 years ago, when Iraqi insurgents shot and killed DeRoo, a Stryker infantryman from Fort Lewis. DeRoo, who was married to Suko’s younger sister, Hannah, joined the Army in 2003 and was serving his second tour in Iraq when he was killed.

Suko and DeRoo were close — they were only a month apart in age and were “very good friends,” according to Suko’s mother, Nancy.

At the time, DeRoo had already been to Iraq and returned home unharmed. The family assumed his second tour would be the same as the first.

His death affected Suko profoundly.

“It was a big shock. None of us saw it coming,” Suko said.

The result led Suko to consider following in his brother-in-law’s footsteps.

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