Fernandez and Schofield Barracks soldier Staff Sgt. Brian S. Hobbs, 31, of Mesa, Ariz., were killed in the town of Miam Do.

They were the fifth and sixth Schofield soldiers killed in Afghanistan this year. Sixteen soldiers with Hawai'i ties have died in the Middle East in post-9/11 military campaigns.

"My son was a warrior. He was an Island boy proud of his Hawaiianness," said Kyle's father, Renald Fernandez, who along with his wife, Noe, served in the Air Force. "The freedom we enjoy is because of these young men."

Fernandez and Hobbs were members of the 25th Infantry Division (Light); their fellow soldiers will remember them tomorrow in a private prayer service at Schofield.

A service for Fernandez will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday at Borthwick Mortuary; visitation from 6 to 9 p.m. In addition, a service will be held at 9 a.m. Friday at Borthwick; visitation from 8 to 10:30 a.m. A committal service will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at Hawaii State Veterans Cemetery in Kane'ohe. Aloha attire.

Family and friends gathered yesterday at Kyle Fernandez's maternal grandmother's house in Pacific Palisades to console one another and remember the man they all called "Ka'eo." The family sat in the carport at a table adorned with pictures of Ka'eo the newlywed, Ka'eo the soldier, Ka'eo the family man with a wife, Celeste, and two young children.

"He never wanted us to worry about him, especially, me and his wife," said his mother, Noe Fernandez. "At the end of our phone conversations, I would start to break down. And he would always say, 'What, Mom, why you crying for? You know I'm the Hawaiian Superman!' He always thought about us, our feelings, before he thought of his own self."

"Ka'eo was blessed with a great sense of humor," his sister, Kehau Fernandez, said in a statement released Saturday by the Army. "He could always make you laugh. He was a real family man. He dedicated his life to his wife Celeste and children, Kyla and Keahi. They are what kept him going during his time in Afghanistan."

The day before his family learned of the soldier's death, his wife, parents and brother Koa received letters from him. It takes about two weeks for mail to work its way to Hawai'i.

"My brother has been deployed for so long," Koa Fernandez said. "The last time my brother and I actually sat down and talked face to face, I can't remember."

Koa said his brother wanted to spend 20 years in the military and then retire.

Fernandez was an infantryman who enlisted in March 2001. He was assigned to Company C, 2nd Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment. His family said he had his heart set on returning home to take care of his wife and children, 4-year-old Kyla and 13-month-old Keahi. He was to return Dec. 7 for two weeks, his family said.

Celeste Fernandez, who met her husband at Pearl City High School, sat sobbing at the table yesterday, her head buried in the shoulder of Kyle's mom. Kyla hovered nearby.

Renald Fernandez, Kyle's father, said he supports the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, but said President Bush rushed to war in Iraq and that it is time for a new president. "To make a change is to exercise your right to vote," Renald Fernandez said.

Koa Fernandez, meanwhile, has a difficult decision to make. With his brother's blessing, he said, he enlisted in the Army and is to begin basic training on Nov. 2. But, now as the last surviving male in his immediate family, Koa has the option to cancel the commitment. He said he has not decided what he will do.