HARRISBURG – A Pennsylvania Army National Guard Soldier died Thursday in the Yuma Regional Medical Center in Arizona after working in a border patrol mission.
Spc. Kirsten Fike, 36, from Warren, died at 4 p.m. Thursday, one day after being airlifted from a desert outpost near Yuma in the southwestern part of Arizona. The cause of death has not been determined.
“Fike died while answering the president’s call to monitor our borders to keep illegal aliens from entering the U.S.,” Gov. Edward Rendell said. “Not only has the Pennsylvania National Guard lost a dedicated soldier, her death means her 13-year-old son, Cody, has lost a mother.”
Fike was assigned to the Greensburg-based Detachment 1, 28th Military Police Company, which was part of a 60-plus member Pennsylvania National Guard unit working on the Arizona border. She was a former member of the Air Force and joined the Pennsylvania National Guard June 12.
Last month, Rendell signed a memorandum of agreement giving as many as 500 Pennsylvania National Guard soldiers the option to volunteer for deploy to Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas for Operation Jump Start, the initiative created by President George Bush to stem the flow of illegal immigrants.
Fike deployed for two weeks of annual training in support of Operation Jump Start on Aug. 5. She was on her first mission Aug. 9 when she collapsed. Both a combat lifesaver and combat medic were at her location and provided immediate care. A short time later, paramedics arrived and she was airlifted to the hospital around 4 p.m.
Fike was part of a four-soldier team working a 12-hour mission and watching for illegal border crossings. She was helping re-erect netting that had blown down when she fell ill.
Besides her son, Fike is survived by her parents; Arden and Nina Chittick from Mukioteo, Wash. Funeral arrangements are pending.
