When Cpl. Benjamin J. Ashley was five years old he told his parents he wanted to grow up to be G.I. Joe.
  
"He would say, 'I want to drive a tank. I want to run the bad guys over,' " Donna Ashley, his mother, told The Examiner, a Jackson County (Mo.) publication.
  
For more than three years Ashley lived out that dream.
  
Ashley, 22, Independence, Mo., died May 24 in Balad, Iraq, of wounds sustained when a roadside bomb exploded near the vehicle he was driving while on combat operations. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley.
  
"I'm so proud of Ben," said Ken Ashley, his father. "He was a hero. That's how I thought of him and that is how I still think of him. He volunteered. He knew what he was doing."
  
Donna Ashley said her son felt the Army was his calling.
 
"He was a fantastic child, and we're going to miss him," she said. "We're going to miss him a lot."
  
Ashley met his wife Kassandra while she was tutoring the math class her grandmother taught. They married in 2003, and had their son Alex in 2005.
  
"It's going to be hard," Kassandra Ashley said. "It is hard to think about doing this (raising a child) alone."
  
Ashley was a 2002 graduate of Truman High School where he was a band member for four years, playing the baritone saxophone. Todd Reinhardt, band director at the high school, was saddened to hear the news of Ashley's death.
  
"It hits close to home when it is someone you know," Reinhardt said.
  
Ken Ashley said his son was a big music fan.
  
"He loved Toby Keith," Ken Ashley said.
  
Ashley was an avid Kansas City Chiefs fan, and was able to combine football with music when the Truman High band performed at halftime of a Chiefs game at Arrowhead. It was the first game played after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on America, and the opponent that day was the New York Giants.
  
Ashley was scheduled to return home from Iraq this month.
  
Ashley enlisted in the Army on March 30, 2004, as a field artillery tactical data systems specialist. On Aug. 27, 2004, he was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 15th Field Artillery Regiment at Camp Casey, Korea, where he served a year-long tour.
  
On Sept. 16, 2005, he was assigned to Delta Battery, 1st Battalion, 5th Field Artillery Regiment, Fort Riley. During this time he served as an automated field artillery tactical data systems operator, driver, gunner, and radio telephone operator. On Oct. 4, 2006, he deployed with Delta Battery to Forward Operating Base Anaconda, Iraq, where he filled the role of gunner and driver on numerous logistics patrols.
  
Awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart Medal, the Army Achievement Medal, the Army Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Iraq Campaign Service Medal, the Global War On Terrorism Service Medal, the Korea Defense Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, the Overseas Service Ribbon (2nd award) and the Combat Action Badge.