Family loses second son to war in Iraq

CLOVIS, Calif. -- Grief counselors were dispatched Thursday to Buchanan High School, an all-too-familiar sight at a school that has lost five graduates in the Iraq war -- now including two brothers.

Residents of the Central Valley community were mourning the death of Army Spc. Nathan Hubbard, 21, who was among 14 troops killed Wednesday when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed in northern Iraq. It was the second tragedy for his family, who lost another son to the war three years ago, family friends said.

Keith Butterfield said he became close to the Hubbards after his own son, Tony -- also a Buchanan High graduate -- died in Iraq last year.

“There is nothing anyone can say to make it better, but it’s good to know that there are other families that can help you cope,” Butterfield said. “It’s bringing up the feelings of everyone else’s loss, but we will be there for them.”

Hubbard’s family was taking his death “very, very hard,” said Clovis police spokeswoman Janet Stoll-Lee, speaking on behalf of the Hubbards. The soldier’s father, Jeff Hubbard, is a retired 30-year veteran of the Police Department.

The Hubbards lost Nathan’s brother Jared, a Marine lance corporal, to a roadside bomb in Ramadi in 2004. He was 22. A third brother, Jason, 33, will be returning home from Iraq, where he is serving in the Army, to be with his family, Stoll-Lee said.

The UH-60 helicopter went down during a nighttime mission in Al Tamim province, of which the capital is Kirkuk, an oil-rich city 180 miles north of Baghdad, said Lt. Col. Michael Donnelly, a military spokesman in northern Iraq.

He said indications were that the crash was almost certainly due to a mechanical problem and not hostile fire, although the cause remains under investigation. The military did not immediately release the soldiers’ identities pending notification of relatives.

Nathan Hubbard was assigned to the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii, where officials said 10 of the soldiers killed in the crash were based. Plans for his funeral have not been finalized.

Nathan and Jason Hubbard joined the Army together in 2005, shortly after their brother was killed. Their mother, Peggy, told the Fresno Bee in a 2005 interview that she believed Jason joined in part to protect Nathan after not being there to help Jared. The brothers said at the time that they didn’t worry about dying in the war. “People are going to be hurt, and people are going to be killed,” Nathan Hubbard told the Bee. “That is a reality you have to accept, but not dwell on.”