In April 2006, on a break from his service in Iraq, Sgt. Nicholas Sowinski and his mother, Diane, were talking about his deployment.
"You've been in a war now. Was this still the right thing for you?"
Diane remembers asking him.
"Yes it is," Diane said he told her.
Five months later, on Oct. 11, 2006, Nicholas died after a roadside bomb exploded near his armored vehicle in Baghdad. He was 25.
Nicholas was a member of the U.S. Army's 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat team, which was scheduled to return to its base in Fort Wainwright, Alaska, but was instead serving in Iraq on an extended deployment of 120 days.
Nicholas was born in Houston but lived in Saudi Arabia until he was 9 years old, when his family moved to Scottsdale where he grew up.
The oldest of three sons, Nick was a patient and caring older brother to his siblings Jared and Austin, Diane said, in a telephone interview from Prescott.
"He was there for them any way he could be, even when he was gone," Diane said. "[His death has] left a gaping hole in their lives."
Nick graduated from Brophy College Preparatory in 1999 and started at ASU that fall.
During Nick's time as an ASU student, he wasn't sure what he wanted to do with his future, Diane said.
"He didn't know what his major was going to be," she said. "He was an English major because he always loved to read."
There were times when he joked with his friends about being on the six-year plan before he decided to enlist in the Army, she added.
But after two years at ASU and especially after Sept. 11, Nicholas was certain of one thing, she said: He wanted to serve his country.
"When he quit school because he was joining the Army, it was a real shock to me," Diane said. "[But] I think in a lot of ways he found his calling."
Diane said Nick told her, "Maybe I've watched movies like 'Blackhawk Down' one too many times, but if there are people standing up for our country like that, I should be standing with them."
If he learned one thing in his two years at ASU, Diane said, it was that he didn't want to sit behind a desk all day. He chose to become a cavalry scout and was assigned to Fort Wainwright with the Fourth Squadron, 14th Cavalry regiment in November 2003.
Nick was named Soldier of the Year in Alaska and made sergeant a year before any of his peers, Diane said.
While Nick was in Iraq, members of his platoon came to know him as a coffee addict. They said he should have it pumped into his veins through an IV, Diane said.
She added that she has never supported the war and neither did Nicholas, nor most of the men he was battling alongside in the trenches. They were in it for each other, she said.
"They believed in honor, duty, country and loyalty because they were sent to do a job, and they would do it no matter what their current feelings were," Diane said. "They were there for each other. You live through what you live through because you are standing up for your brothers in arms."
The men promised each other they would be there for their respective families if one of them were to die.
A year after Nick's death, four members of his platoon lived up to that promise when they flew into Arizona to visit his gravesite with Diane.
Nicholas was a man of honor and courage who was proud to be an American. The choice to join the Army stemmed from his love for his country, his mother said.
"People grow up in different steps and different ways," she said. "I still don't know why he decided to join the Army. It wouldn't have been the choice I would've made for him, but I respect it with all my heart. He did it for our country."
Reach the reporter at: ryan.calhoun@asu.edu.
