A wave of sadness and shock spread through the family of Army Spc. Mitchell Kirk Daehling as word of his death in Afghanistan spread. That family includes the “Seahawk family” of Pocatello.

    They have lost their “Fuzzy Tiger.”

    It was a nickname the happy son of Kirk and Brenda Daehling carried all through his little league football career as a third through seventh grader in Pocatello. Some say the name came from a favorite book he read as a youngster. There is also a child's board game called “Fuzzy Tiger.”

    The exact origin doesn't matter — the name stuck.

    “When I got word that he had been killed, it came in a text message,” said Daehling's old football coach, Tom Gwinn. “It said the Fuzzy Tiger had been killed in Afghanistan.”

    The 24-year-old soldier was one of three killed in an explosion on May 14.

    According to the U.S. Department of Defense, Daehling was patrolling on foot in Sanjaray, Afghanistan, when an improvised explosive device detonated, killing him and two other soldiers, Sgt. First Class Jeffrey Baker, 29, and Spc. William Gilbert, 24, both of California.

    Daehling had recently married and this was his first deployment. He joined the Army in 2010 shortly after the death of his maternal grandfather, a Korean War veteran and the recipient of a Purple Heart.

    Gwinn said he has lost touch with the Daehling family since they moved from Pocatello in 2000, but the visions of a small, fast little boy tearing up a football field remain vivid.

    “He was a speedy little guy,” Gwinn said. “He was smart and always had a smile on his face.”

    Despite his smaller stature as a youngster, Daehling was tough. He played defense for the Highland Seahawks team and during their sixth grade season, the Seahawks didn't give up a single point.

    “They were proud of that,” Gwinn said.

    The young Seahawk team continued to improve and went on to win the seventh grade championship game held inside Holt Arena in 2000. That victory earned Daehling and his team a spot in a national football tournament held in Las Vegas. They won all their games at that tournament.

    “His parents were great people to be around,” Gwinn said about the Fuzzy Tiger's mother and father. “We shared a lot of wonderful times together.”

    Gwinn said those glory years of the Highland Seahawks forged many close relationships between parents and their children. His own son, Tommy, was on Daehling's team.

    “I think the entire Seahawk family is sad today,” Gwinn said. “They're all shocked. There is no doubt.”

    Gwinn has coached little league, junior high and high school sports in the Gate City for 27 years. He is currently an assistant coach for the Highland Rams freshman team. This is the first team member he has lost to combat.

    “I am heartbroken,” Gwinn said. “It's way too close to home.”

    The coach said it also made him think about what all the white crosses at the Field of Heroes set up near Century High School really signify.

    “You think about all the families they represent,” Gwinn said. They are somebody's wife or husband or son or daughter or brother or sister. I think sometimes we become insensitive to what those crosses really mean.”

    At his request, Spc. Daehling will be buried next to his grandfather, Kenneth Sander, in Lewiston. And the Fuzzy Tiger will have his own Purple Heart — given to him posthumously.