On March 31, 2004, while conducting routine route clearance operations along a major road near the city of Habbaniyah, Iraq, Lt. Doyle Hufstedler III ‘01 made the ultimate sacrifice along with four of his soldiers when their armored personnel carrier struck an IED. 

Doyle Hufstedler joined the Corps of Cadets in the fall of 1997 as a fish in Company “Red-eye” I-1. A redass Army contract, Hufstedler chose to go the extra mile and joined the Rudder’s Ranger company, and subsequently became a member of Texas A&M’s Ranger Challenge team. By his senior year, Hufstedler was the commanding officer of the Ranger Challenge team, and had also earned the coveted Rudder’s pin. Not only was he an outstanding cadet militarily, he also served as I-1’s Executive Officer, and was known for stopping by fish rooms in the evenings and sharing some good bull. Before graduating and commissioning into the Army as an engineer officer, he proposed to his wife, Leslie, in true Aggie fashion in the endzone of Kyle Field. They celebrated their first wedding anniversary the following August and learned Leslie was pregnant. Less than a week later, Hufstedler was sent to Iraq with the 1st Battalion, 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division. 

Lt. Doyle Hufstedler sacrificed his life, his family, and time with his unborn daughter in order to ensure the survival of the men and women he served. We have to ask ourselves, do we live up to the standard he set as an Aggie but more importantly as a leader?

Maj. Worrell was born April 4, 1972 and graduated from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Science degree and received his commission in 1995 as a Second Lieutenant.

Returning from Bosnia in 1999, he attended the Military Intelligence Captain’s Career Course at Fort Huachuca, Ariz. and the Combined Arms Services Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. After this schooling in 2001, he assessed for the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) in 2003 and was assigned to 1st Battalion, 160th SOAR(A).

Major Matthew Wade Worrell died May 14, 2006, when his AH-6M Little Bird helicopter was shot down by enemy fire during combat operations in Yusifiyah, south of Baghdad, Iraq. Maj. Worrell was posthumously awarded the Silver Star and the Purple Heart.

Major Worrell is survived by his wife, Camille, and two children, Jake, D-1, '23 and Luke, L-1, '26.