By LINDA FRANKLIN, Associated Press Writer

A Desert Storm veteran and skilled marksman, the first U.S. soldier killed by enemy fire in Afghanistan (news - web sites) was also a proud father of two and loving husband who called his Army unit his second family, his parents said Saturday.

Sgt. 1st Class Nathan Ross Chapman, a 31-year-old Green Beret communications specialist, died Friday when he was hit by small-arms fire during an ambush. His parents, Will and Lynn Chapman, said their son had served in Panama, Haiti and Operation Desert Storm during more than a decade in the military.

``The Army took to him and he took to the Army. It was a good match up until yesterday,'' Will Chapman said Saturday morning during an interview at his home in Georgetown, Texas, about 25 miles north of Austin.

``I think he was a better person for going into the Army, and the Army was a better place,'' he said.

Chapman had talked with his parents on Christmas Day by satellite phone. Will Chapman said that when he told his son he was sorry he wasn't home for the holidays, the soldier replied, ``I know, Dad, but I'm with my second family and they're a great bunch of guys.''

Chapman's parents identified the slain soldier's wife as Renae and his children as Amanda, 2, and Brandon, 1. They said they planned to travel to Seattle on Sunday to be with them.

``He loved parenting his children and cherished the time he had with them and his wife,'' the Chapmans had said in statement Friday. ``He loved to jet ski, snowboard and woodworking. He was a skilled marksman.''

Chapman was part of a U.S. team operating near the Afghan town of Khost, a few miles from the Pakistan border, when he was hit, military officials said.

Officials said Chapman and a CIA (news - web sites) officer had met with local tribal leaders in Afghanistan's Paktia province, near where U.S. warplanes had struck several al-Qaida and Taliban targets in the past few weeks. The Americans were ambushed after the meeting and exchanged fire with their assailants, officials said.

The CIA officer was wounded but was expected to survive.

``This American serviceman was doing his job,'' Gen. Tommy Franks, commander of U.S. Central Command, said of Chapman. ``He was out for the purpose of working with and coordinating with tribal leaders in that area.''

Chapman was born on April 23, 1970, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. He wrestled at Centerville High School in Centerville, Ohio, before graduating in 1988 and joining the Army. For his military records, Sgt. Chapman identified his hometown as San Antonio - where he had never lived - because of family ties there.

He served most of his military career at Fort Lewis, Wash. Since the war in Afghanistan began, he had been assigned to the 5th Special Forces Group at Fort Campbell, Ky., said Maj. Gary Kolb, a spokesman for Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, N.C.

The Army did not immediately release further details on Chapman's career. But his parents said he parachuted into Panama during the U.S. invasion of that country and also served in Desert Storm and Haiti. He attended Special Forces school at Fort Bragg, they said.

The Army's Special Forces have been advising, arming, training and coordinating with local Afghan forces since the military campaign began Oct. 7, Franks said.

Kolb said one of Chapman's jobs ``was to make sure that communication links are active and operational.'' And as a Green Beret, Kolb said, ``he is adept at anything else.''

Before Friday, the only U.S. military members killed inside Afghanistan were three Green Berets mistakenly hit last month by a U.S. airstrike north of Kandahar. In October, two Army Rangers were killed when their Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Pakistan.

A CIA operative, Johnny ``Mike'' Spann, was killed Nov. 25 in an uprising of Taliban prisoners in Afghanistan.

Quoted:
GOD bless them....All of them.......pray for our servicemen.....now and often......