Army Sgt. Brian J. Pedro, 27, Rosamond; killed in attack in Afghanistan

Although he was an only child, Brian Pedro seemed to have two brothers.

In Southern California, where Pedro grew up, he had a large extended family of aunts, uncles and cousins. He was especially close to his cousin Alex “Bubba” Droz, whom he always introduced as his younger brother. Even when they were pressed and people pointed out that the two looked nothing alike, the pair would stand by their claim — they were brothers.

Even an Army news release sent out by Pedro’s battalion got it wrong — or right, perhaps: “He is survived by his wife, parents and younger brother.”

Sgt. Brian J. Pedro, 27, of the Antelope Valley community of Rosamond was killed Oct. 2 when his unit was attacked with small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades in Pul-i-Khumri, the capital of Afghanistan’s Baghlan province, northwest of Kabul. He was a utilities equipment repairer assigned to the Forward Support Company, 2nd Engineer Battalion at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. It was his second tour in Afghanistan.

Ever since he graduated from high school in 2002, Pedro had wanted to follow his grandfather and stepfather — both of whom served in the Marine Corps — into the military. But when the war in Iraq began, his grandmother talked him out of it. He worked odd jobs for several years before finally enlisting in the Army in 2006.

In August 2008, after Pedro’s first deployment, he flew Droz, now 26, to Europe and they spent a week together in Barcelona, Spain. One night before they went out, they threw roses into the Mediterranean Sea in honor of their grandmother, who had recently died.

“I know he felt a very big accomplishment being able to fly me out,” Droz said. “We’re not a rich family at all, [but] Brian was always dishing out his money. We’re all that way — if I got money, you got money.”

Pedro’s desire to make people happy extended to everyone he met, said his wife, Shanna. Since his death, she has heard from several of his fellow soldiers, who have spoken about how he liked to put a smile on everyone’s face.

When someone close to him was sad, “he wouldn’t come over and talk and pick your brain like normal people,” she said. “He would just come up to you and give you a giant bear hug until you smiled.”

Although Pedro and his cousin were a year apart, they were in the same grade in school, and both attended El Camino High School in Oceanside for two years.

They shared a room and a bunk bed at Droz’s home during those years. At night, they stayed up talking about life and what they planned to do in the future.

“We played sports together; we did everything together,” Droz said.

And then there was Bear.

Pedro’s mother, Lululima Nelson, and stepfather, David, joke that although they never had a son together, they had Bear, a shepherd and Great Dane mix that Pedro called “my younger brother,” Nelson said.

Whenever Pedro spoke with his mother during his tours in Afghanistan, he asked about Bear and worried about the 12-year-old dog’s failing health. “Don’t let that dog die before I get home,” Pedro would tell his mother, she said. “I said, ‘I’ll try not to.’ ”

Since Pedro’s death, Nelson said, Bear has been more affectionate than usual. “I guess he feels my pain,” she said. “Without the dog, I’d be lost.”

Before her son was buried recently at Eternal Hills Memorial Park in Oceanside, Nelson put a photo of him, with his beloved dog, into the casket. On Bear’s head sits Pedro’s Army-issued cap.

“Now you take your brother with you,” Nelson told her son.

raja.abdulrahim@latimes.com