Robert Wayne Pittman, Wexford Group, Killed in Afghanistan July 29, 2010

Clarkesville Contractor Killed in Afghanistan

Wayne and Vicki Pittman said Robert Wayne Pittman Jr. of Clarksville, Tenn., retired as a U.S. Army master sergeant in April and had been working for The Wexford Group International as a combat adviser in Afghanistan.

He died July 29. An obituary in The Leaf Chronicle said services are Saturday at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Clarksville, Tenn. Burial will be in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

The family said a funeral Mass will take place at 10 a.m. Monday at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Greenwood.

Robert Pittman is also survived by his wife, Melissa, and daughters Loren and Robbie.

Robert Pittman graduated from Greenwood High School. He enlisted in the Army in 1990 and served multiple tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Military people don’t talk about what they do,” Wayne Pittman told The Greenwood Commonwealth. “When he was in the military, we knew that he was in harm’s way. We didn’t know that he would be in harm’s way after he got out of the military. He just always told us, ‘Everything’s fine; I’m doing great.’ He was that kind of guy.”

Vicki Pittman said her son was the kind of person who was “once a friend, always a friend.”

Wayne Pittman said his son surrounded himself with good people when he was growing up and later when he was in the military.

“They’re Americans who sacrifice everything every day to let us live with the freedoms we have,” Wayne Pittman said. “Robert was always supportive of them, and they were the same way toward him.”