RIO VISTA -- When Army Specialist Adam Kinser came home for leave in early December, his wife, Tiffany Kinser, gave him an unforgettable holiday gift - a sonogram of their unborn baby.
On Friday, the Kinser family and the town where he was a role model and popular high school athlete learned the 21-year-old soldier died Thursday in Afghanistan.
"The community is devastated," Rio Vista Mayor Marcie Coglianese said.
Kinser was mortally wounded Thursday in an explosion at a weapons depot near Ghazni, 60 miles southwest of Kabul, Afghanistan, that claimed six other soldiers.
Kinser was the first Rio Vistan to give his life in war time since the Korean War.
Flags all over town were put at half mast. Rio Vista High School canceled finals and the basketball game Friday to give students and the community time to recover from the shock.
Kinser was "an outstanding student and athlete," Rio Vista High School Principal Dennis Wallin said.
"He was really loved by everybody here, students and staff alike," Wallin said. "He was a very trustworthy and reliable kid."
Kinser's family moved to Rio Vista in 1988 when he was 5 and he graduated from Rio Vista High School in 2001.
He was an honor roll student and four-year letterman at the school who ran track for three years, played basketball for two years and was a starting quarterback for three years.
Retired high school coach Dan Mahoney described Kinser as "the kind of kid you would want your daughter to marry."
"He was my varsity quarterback for three years and was a teacher's assistant for me," Kinser said. "He was an All-American kid."
Even when the school's football team lost in one of its worst seasons, Mahoney couldn't remember ever hearing Kinser complain, he said.
Kinser joined the Army Reserve during his senior high school year and was in boot camp at Fort Bragg, N.C, when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.
He married Tiffany Madewell of Vacaville on April 4, 2003, just before he was called to active duty at Fort Bragg. She is expecting the couple's child, Aydn Noah Kinser, in March.
Kinser went to Afghanistan in July 2003 but returned home on leave for two weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. He took the time to talk to several classes about life in the military and what it was like serving in Afghanistan.
"He had a real command of getting the kids' respect and attention," Wallin said. "He said that the Afghan people were glad we were over there and he was proud to be in the military."
Kinser visited with Mahoney and he was pleased with how his former student turned out.
"You could see a lot more self-confidence in him," Mahoney said. "He had matured immensely. He was turning into an excellent young man."
Kinser's strong religious beliefs were a consolation to his family.
"Being absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. We anguish over our loss but rejoice in his present state," said his father, Paul Kinser Jr.
"He is a hero in my eyes," mother Terri Kinser said. "He didn't want to go but knew it was his duty."
His sister, Blake Kinser, described him as "an awesome brother" who "was always protecting me even when I didn't want it."

http://www.dailyrepublic.com/articles/2004/01/31/news/news2.txt
Rio Vista mourns 'All-American kid'

The following was written by a friend who has asked not to be identified.
 When Adam got to Afghanistan, we were both members of the same 9-man team. We all lived together in a little cramp house. We had a little saying that we were "each other's brother from a different mother." That saying really rang true, because we all got along as though we were brothers, and looked after each other as such. We ran several missions together over there. There were minor incidences along the way, but none of them ever discouraged any of us. With each waking day, we were ready to venture out and perform that day's mission. In a way we just kind of shrugged these things off, and lived each day one at a time. Adam was no exception to this. We had all assigned each other radio nicknames or call signs. Adam's name was "Big Daddy." He absolutely loved life, and loved what he was doing.