Ranger fatally shot in Afghan fighting

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By Chase Davis, Globe Correspondent | September 4, 2005

At first glance, First Lieutenant Derek Hines always seemed a little small: 5 feet 6 inches tall, 165 pounds, certainly not the typical hulking member of the hockey teams he captained, or the Army Ranger unit he joined.

But his strength was hidden, his father, Steven, said yesterday, obscured sometimes by his quiet demeanor and humble attitude, but always ready when it was called upon -- even at the end of his life.

Derek Hines died Thursday during a firefight with insurgents in Baylough, Afghanistan, according to the Defense Department. The 25-year-old Newburyport native fought until his last breath, firing at insurgents even after he had been fatally shot, Steven Hines said he was told yesterday by his son's commanding officer. ''He had been in so many battles and never complained," Steven Hines, a State Police officer, said yesterday from his Newburyport home. ''He did more than I've ever thought of doing in just his 25 years."

As of Aug. 27, 10 Massachusetts residents have been killed in Afghanistan, according to the Defense Department.

When his commitment to the Army was over, Hines had hoped to enroll in business school at Harvard, his father said. He was scheduled to get a leave later this month, when he planned to see his girlfriend, a fellow West Point graduate stationed in Germany.

Family and friends gathered this weekend at his parents' home in Newburyport. Derek was the oldest of four children, and Steven Hines said he helped set the bar, pushing his brothers and sister to better themselves.

At St. John's Preparatory School in Danvers, Derek set himself apart as an intense, determined leader and a skilled forward who played hockey like someone twice his size, his father said. ''He used to go out there and hit everything in sight," he said.

It was hockey, rather than a passion for military service, that drew him to the US Military Academy at West Point after he graduated from St. John's in 1999. There, wearing the number 7, his hard-nosed play quickly earned him a fan club -- a group of local high school boys who banged Heinz ketchup bottles each time one of his hits crumpled an opponent onto the ice, his father said.

He began training as a Ranger last year. ''A week after he got to Ranger school, he called and said, 'I might have bit off more than I can chew,' " his father said. ''But he got through on the first try."

During his six months in Afghanistan, Derek Hines never complained, his father said. The two last spoke more than a week ago, when Hines described a Aug. 21 firefight that killed four members of his unit. Steven Hines said his son helped pull dead Rangers out of a Humvee as explosions cascaded around them.

Early this week, Steven Hines received a note from his son along with a newspaper article about his unit. The note also said he'd be ''out of the loop" for a few days, deployed on yet another assignment. It would turn out to be his last.

© Copyright 2005 Globe Newspaper Company.

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