The Battalion
Volume 110 • Issue 133 * 10 pages
A Texas \tk M IVailition Since 1893
www.thehatt.com
Aqqie Muster 2004
^ April 21, 2004
A s a senior at Texas A&M, Lt. Doyle
Hufstedler III never got much sleep.
While some seniors used their
upperclassman status to take it easy and
“bag-in” weekday mornings, Hufstedler got
up at 5:30 every morning to join the
Company 1-1 freshman and sophomore
cadets in their daily drills. Hufstedler just
considered it part of his duty to take care of
his men.
As a U.S. Army officer in Iraq, Hufstedler's
sense of duty stuck with him until the day he
died. Hufstedler was the only officer in a vehi
cle full of Army privates when a bomb deto
nated under their M-113 in Malahama, Iraq, on
March 21,2004, killing him and four others.
“He was right there with the bottom of the
totem pole, doing what he had to do, and
that's not surprising,” said Michael
Hernandez, a senior finance major, who was
one of Hufstedler's “fish” in 2000. “That's
just the kind of person that he was. He was
very attached to his men and definitely took
care of his people.”
Hufstedler, Class of 2001, along with two
other Aggie soldiers, Capt. Ernesto Blanco-
Caldas, Class of 1998, and 1st Lt. Jonathan
Rozier, Class of 2001, were killed in action in
Iraq in the past year. All three soldiers’ names
will be called at the Muster roll call
Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Reed Arena, and a
family member or friend will answer “Here”
to symbolize that their memory still lives on.
Keith Alaniz, a senior civil engineering
major and 1-1 commanding officer, said the
entire 1-1 outfit will say “Here” when
Hufstedler's name is called.
“It will be an honor to stand up and say
‘here’ because I knew him and he was a real
ly great guy who made a huge sacrifice for
us,” Alaniz said.
Alaniz, who knew Hufstedler as his senior
and the Ranger Challenge commander, said
Hufstedler understood the sacrifices he would
have to make as a soldier.
“I was in his room one time with him and
my other friends, and we were watching
CNN,” Alaniz said. “Some U.S. soldiers had
been killed, and one of the guys said, ‘That's
horrible.' Doyle told him, That's what hap
pens, and that's what you have to do.'”
Hernandez said Hufstedler was a selfless
leader who epitomized Army values and that
he is proud to have known Hufstedler.
“His death helped several thousand people
in Iraq who now have the opportunity for
freedom,” Hernandez said. “We will never
forget what he did for us.”
Hufstedler's wife, Leslie, who is eight-and-
a half months pregnant with their first child,
Grace Ashley, will attend a Muster ceremony
in Charlotte, N.C., if she is physically able to,
while Hufstedler's parents and family friend.
Bill Libby, Class of 1958, will honor
Hufstedler at the Muster ceremony in his
home town of Abilene, Texas.
Libby, who has known Hufstedler since he
was in seventh grade, said the serious-mind
ed, patriotic and religious soldier loved being
an Aggie. Libby said Hufstedler was deter
mined to graduate from A&M, despite a
learning disability that forced him to work
extra hard in his classes and an administrator
who encouraged him to drop out and attend a
junior college.
“It was his dream, his vision in high school,
to go to A&M,” Libby said.
See Muster on page 8
Story by: Rhiannon Meyers; Photo by: Randal Ford;
Page Design By: Ruben DeLuna, Joshua Hobson, Lauren