Local soldier killed in Afghanistan

Waterford— A local soldier was killed in Afghanistan, his family and friends said Monday.

Army Sgt. Ari R. Cullers, 28, deployed to Afghanistan with the Fort Drum, N.Y., based 10th Mountain Division earlier this year.

Cullers, a 2001 graduate of Waterford High School, wrote on his Facebook page that he was a squad leader and mechanic in the Army.

Waterford High Principal Donald Macrino said Monday that he spoke to Cullers' aunt, who also confirmed that Cullers was killed in Afghanistan Sunday.

Cullers is the third Waterford High graduate to die in combat in the Middle East. Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Edwin Rivera, 28, of the class of 2000, was killed last year in eastern Afghanistan. Marine Cpl. Kemaphoom "Ahn" Chanawongse, who graduated the year before Rivera, was killed in the opening days of the Iraq War in March 2003 during operations on the outskirts of Nasiriyah.

Macrino remembered Cullers as "a very likeable young man" who played on the football team. Macrino's daughter was in Cullers' class.

"He was a hard worker at school and he, I think, actually found himself when he got into the service," Macrino said Monday. "I think that was a place where he felt he could really make his mark. I spoke to him a couple of times when he was home on leave and he told me he was doing well."

A woman who answered the phone at Cornele's Waterford residence said Cornele could not come to the phone and referred questions to Col. John Whitford, spokesman for the Connecticut National Guard.

Whitford said Monday afternoon he could not confirm that a Connecticut resident was killed because the Defense Department had not issued an official release. The department gives the families up to 72 hours to grieve before making an announcement, according to a spokesman.

Kerri Flanagan, 26, was a year behind Cullers at the high school but her husband, Patrick, was in the same class. Cullers' younger brother Jacob graduated in 2004.

"Anything he said or did could make you laugh," she said. "He just had that bubbly personally."

Flanagan said she saw Cullers in August shortly before he deployed.

"He seemed to be so proud of what he was doing," said Flanagan, the in-school suspension coordinator at the high school. "It made everybody realize what they're actually going through, just seeing someone else's perspective. It was good to see him happy that last time."

Cullers joined the Army soon after graduation, Macrino said, and previously deployed to Iraq. Macrino said he spoke with Cullers about the difficulties of serving in combat.

"He was very frank about it and he told me it was a very dangerous job," Macrino said. "I understood that and admired him for the work he did. He also said he felt it was his niche and he had to go back. It's very sad to hear this but it seems to me he was doing what he wanted to do."