battalion. she died june 21, 2007 when her vehicle was hit by a rocket propelled grenade. here is a tribute through the words of her mother, chris. karen always had a big smile. she loved being around her friends. she loved being with the people that she cared about and she was more of a leader type. she took control. let s just put it that way. she liked to if she could, do whatever she could to help out whoever she could. she just wanted to be that leader role, that role model. karen really enjoyed going to the service. i think it was a different experience of being somewhere else and enjoying being the freedom that she kind of had there and then when they got deployed to iraq. all her friends used to call her kid rock because they always