When Army Pfc. Jeremiah D. Smith was killed in Iraq on Memorial Day, it wasn’t just his family who felt the loss. There also were his brothers in arms at Fort Riley.

Smith, 25, of Odessa, Mo., was a cavalry scout in Baghdad — a particularly dangerous job of being out front looking for possible trouble awaiting his fellow soldiers.

On the day he died, Smith, married and with two daughters, ages 3 and 5, was escorting heavy equipment transporters when his vehicle hit unexploded ordnance.

He was the fifth Fort Riley soldier to die in Iraq. Also killed have been Sgt. Jacob Butler, 24, of Wellsville; Spc. Larry K. Brown, 22, of Jackson, Miss.; Master Sgt. William Lee Payne, 46, of Otsego, Mich., and Pvt. David Evans of Buffalo, N.Y.

That Smith would have been in harm’s way came as no surprise to those in his unit, the 1st Battalion, 34th Armor at Fort Riley.

Those who knew Smith at the post talked to reporters about him Friday in telephone interviews set up by Fort Riley officials.

Pfc. Michael Kapavik, of Fort Worth, Texas, had been on the post about four months when Smith was stationed there last August after joining the Army six months earlier.

They got to know each other because they were in the same platoon and Kapavik gave Smith rides home. Soon they became friends — “my best friend” Kapavik said.

“He was a wonderful guy. We liked the same music, rock mainly and we both had an interest in religion,” Kapavik said.

Kapavik remembers the last time he saw his friend — the day he left in March for Iraq.

“He just said, ‘I’ll see you after a while’,” he recalled.

Learning of his friend’s death earlier this week was hard. It was something Kapavik didn’t want to believe, even though he knew it was true.

“I will miss him. On the other hand, we both knew the risks when we joined,” Kapavik said. “I’m proud of him.”

Smith was shipped out because of his specialty as a cavalry scout.

Staff Sgt. Ryan Rust saw Smith just about every day at Fort Riley. He was Rust’s driver and the eight-year veteran counseled the young soldier on the ways of the Army.

“He was a hard-nosed hard charger who didn’t stop,” said Rust, of Malta, Mont.

“We were brothers in arms. I respected him very much,” Rust said.