Army Spc. Kyle A. Coumas, 22, Lockeford; dies in explosion
Kyle A. Coumas was drawn to anything that involved adventure, said his high school English teacher, Danny Dunne.
Perhaps it was destiny for a boy who was named after a heroic figure in the first “Terminator” movie. His parents adored the character of Kyle Reese, a resistance fighter and the father of John Connor, the hero of the later Terminator movies, and they chose Reese’s first name for their only son.
In high school, Coumas, of the Central California community of Lockeford, southeast of Sacramento, loved reading “Beowulf” -- drawn to the story of the hero and ancient warrior. For a homecoming dance, he dressed up as Indiana Jones.
“He liked adventurous kinds of things,” Dunne said. “He was interested in warfare, though it wasn’t in a negative way.”
An Army specialist, Coumas, 22, was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division at Ft. Lewis, Wash. On Oct. 21, he was killed when a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle in southwest Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, on the Pakistani border.
Dunne, who also was Coumas’ chess club advisor and the father of one of his classmates at St. Mary’s High School in Stockton, stayed in touch with Coumas as he grew from a quiet, reserved teenager into a focused, mature man. They corresponded on Facebook after Coumas deployed to Afghanistan in July.
“He didn’t care what anyone else thought of him,” Dunne said. “He never complained or whined about anything. He took it as it came.”
Dunne said he enjoyed Coumas’ wry sense of humor. At a memorial service for him Nov. 2, some of Coumas’ letters home were read aloud. They reflected that humor, Dunne said, and the fact that Coumas was trying to make light of his situation in Afghanistan so as not to worry his parents. “That’s Kyle,” Dunne said. “He managed to do that till the very end.”
Coumas’ parents, Greg and Lori Coumas, could not be reached for this article. But in an open letter to their son, published in the Lodi News-Sentinel after his death, they acknowledged that his decision to join the Army in early 2007 was not their first choice for their son.
But, they said, “Despite all our efforts to steer you in the direction we wanted for you, you chose your own path. We wanted you safe and secure. You needed to make sure everyone else was safe and secure. And, by doing so, you far exceeded any and all of our expectations.”
From his decision, they added, “we’ve learned the difficulty of having to say goodbye too soon.”
According to the News-Sentinel, Coumas is survived by his parents; grandparents, Robert and Doris Delarm of Manteca and Janet Coumas of Lodi; aunt and uncles, Paul and Kathy Ackerman, Michael Delarm and John “Jerry” Delarm; and seven cousins.