She said that he asked for a transfer back to infantry, and joined a Stryker Brigade Combat Unit at Fort Lewis knowing it was headed for Iraq, she said.

Booker was sent to Iraq about six months ago and had recently been home for an 18-day leave. He left to return to Iraq on Sept. 12, the day after his brother, Kaleb Daniel Booker, turned 22, she said.

Graham said he son always downplayed the dangers he and other soldiers face in Iraq.

“He always told me, ’It’s pretty dull here,”’ she said.

But once when she was talking to him on the telephone, there was a loud explosion on his end. He asked if she had heard it; she said yes and asked what it was.

“Just another explosion,” he said.