Arvada soldier killed in Iraq
Rocky Mountain News
Originally published 01:42 p.m., September 5, 2008
Updated 01:43 p.m., September 5, 2008
Staff Sgt. Kennith Mayne

Staff Sgt. Kennith Mayne
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Staff Sgt. Kennith Mayne talked to his mother two hours before he was killed early Thursday in Iraq.

"He was tired," Michelle Benavidez, 47 of Arvada, said of her son. "He wanted to know where his beef jerky was. We would make beef jerky and send it to him, along with candy and toys."

Mayne, 29, was killed when his Humvee was hit by an roadside bomb outside of Baghdad. He was assigned to the 4th Infantry Division, based at Fort Hood, Texas.

Born in Bellflower, Calif., he moved to Colorado when he was 2 years old. He graduated from Arvada West High School in 1997.

He joined the Army at his mother's insistence when he turned 18 .

"He wasn't really good at high school and I told him, 'You need to pick a branch of the military,' and he picked the Army," Benavidez said.

"He loved it and decided to make a career out of it. He loved the military and he was very proud to serve his country," she said.

Mayne was originally assigned to the 101st Airborne, and was first deployed to Iraq in 2003, as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

He returned after a year, and was stationed in various states. He switch to the 4th Infantry because the division was to be transferred to Fort Carson after the latest deployment.

"He had been in the South for 11 years and he wanted to come home," said his mother. "He loved being in Colorado."

Mayne was deployed to Iraq in March this year, and had come home on leave in July.

"We went golfing and fishing a lot," recalled Benavidez.

Mayne would call his mother several times a week when he was deployed overseas. In their conversation Thursday, he also talked about his plans to take his parents to Jamaica for a week after he returned.

Benavidez also said she had talked to her son about the dangers of being in Iraq.

"He said he was trained, and he believed in what he did," she said. "If he had to, he was willing to die for his men, or for the people of Iraq, if that was what he needed to do."

Mayne was especially fond of the children he would meet while on patrol.

"He loved giving toys to kids," said Benavidez. "I would send him Hot Wheels, soccer balls and coloring books. He had great empathy for the children of Iraq."

Benavidez said the family was devastated by Mayne's death.

"He was a hero," she said. "He believed what he was doing over there. Regardless of why we went into the war, he believed he was doing good with the Iraqi people."

Services for Mayne will be in Colorado, although a date has not been set.

Besides his mother, he is survived by his stepfather, Dan Benavidez, sisters Christina Biederman and Jennifer Morman, and a brother, Danny Benavidez, all of Arvada.