Pfc. Kenneth E. "Aaron" Kincaid and his mom banked on the odds when he went to Iraq a month ago on his first combat deployment. The married father of two had entered the Army less than a year before.

"I and Aaron both went with the percentage of people that get hurt in Iraq," Marcia Kincaid said. "You have more chance to be run over by a bus than you have of getting killed in Iraq with the number of soldiers."

So he left with a positive attitude. "I worried about him, yes, but I never dreamed he'd get killed," Marcia Kincaid said. "I just always assumed he'd come back."

The 25-year-old from Lilburn, Ga., became the fourth soldier either based in Hawai'i or with Hawai'i ties to be killed on a new deployment to northern Iraq by more than 7,000 Schofield Barracks troops.

Hawai'i soldiers started leaving for Iraq in July and a "transfer of authority" to turn over northern Iraq to Schofield commander Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon was held on Sept. 12 near Tikrit.

Kincaid and Sgt. Velton Locklear III, 29, were killed Saturday in Riyadh when a roadside bomb detonated near their Humvee during combat operations, the Pentagon said. The blast injured three other Schofield soldiers.

Kincaid and Locklear were with the 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry "Wolfhounds" based in and around the Sunni Arab city of Hawija about 30 miles southwest of Kirkuk, where resistance to U.S. forces has remained strong.

"I'll never be the same," Marcia Kincaid said by phone yesterday from Georgia. "It's like I've been cut in half."

Locklear, also a married father of two, was on his second tour of Iraq, relatives said. The Pentagon listed Lacey, Wash., as Locklear's hometown, but he was born in El Paso, Texas.

"He wanted to be an infantry soldier. He was interested in being up front where all the action is," his father, retired Sgt. Maj. Velton Locklear Jr., told the El Paso Times.

The improvised explosive device that went off destroyed the Humvee in which he had been riding, family said.

The elder Locklear said he was extremely proud that his son, a standout wide receiver on his high school football team, joined the Army. He did so after a semester of college.

"I encouraged him to do that, and sometimes I feel guilty for doing that," the father told the El Paso Times. "(But) he definitely enjoyed the military life."

Locklear's wife, Denise, and sons, 5-year-old Nathan and 7-year-old Velton IV, were traveling to El Paso from Hawai'i, the newspaper reported.

Marcia Kincaid said her son joined the Army after working in construction and at some car dealers in Georgia. Officials said he entered the Army in October of 2005 and was assigned to Schofield Barracks in February.

"He just couldn't really settle down with what he wanted to do, and then he decided, 'I really want to go in the Army, I want to train, I want to get an education through the Army,' " Marcia Kincaid said.

Her son had a tremendous pride in America and wanted to become a Special Forces soldier, she said. He had been married for about six years and has two little girls ages 3 and 5.

He was very athletic, played on the football team and loved to fish, target shoot and go camping.

"Anything outdoors. Anything sports," his mom said. Aaron had the "the gift of gab and he could talk you out of anything."

In the month he was in Iraq, she didn't hear much from him. A casualty affairs officer came to the house on Monday, but his wife, Rachel, had called earlier.

Rachel Kincaid and her two children were heading back to Georgia, where a funeral with military honors will be held, Marcia Kincaid said. Her son will be buried in a military cemetery.

"I'm not bitter, (but) I think it's a senseless war," Marcia Kincaid said. "I'm a staunch Republican, but I don't believe in what Bush is doing, and I just shake my head."

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.