Ryan P. Baumann went to high school in the Maryland suburbs and then entered a hazardous occupation, "but he was willing to do that," his mother said last night.

Baumann, 24, was a sergeant in the Army, and he knew he would run risks, first in Iraq and then in Afghanistan. "He knew that was his job," said his mother, Cindy Lohman.

Baumann, a member of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), died in Afghanistan of wounds suffered when a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle.

The soldier's mother, his fiancee, Lauren Smith, and his father, Robert Baumann, each said the same thing about him: He was a hero and they were very proud of him.

Baumann was born in Ohio and spent part of his childhood in Germany, where his mother was a civilian nurse for the Defense Department. After he and his mother and stepfather returned to this country, he lived in St. Mary's County, where he graduated in 2003 from Great Mills High School.

As a teenager, he played soccer and showed an interest in photography. Neighbors on Barkentine Court in Great Mills, where he lived as a teenager, remembered him as quiet, well mannered and fun-loving.

"A fantastic young man," said Agnes Price, who lives across the street. "He was a model young man." Among other things, she remembered the wig and madcap costume he wore trick-or-treating one Halloween and how he "had everybody laughing."

While overseas, he lived near an American military base and identified with the troops and their sense of commitment, his mother said.

When the terrorist attacks occurred in 2001, he was in school. But, his mother said, "he wanted to do everything he could for his country."

So it came as no surprise when he enlisted soon after graduating. "He believed in honor and valor and standing up for your country," Lohman said.

She added that while he was overseas, Baumann, who intended to make a career of the Army, felt he was "keeping the terrorists from coming onto U.S. soil."

He served a year in Iraq, from 2005 to 2006, his father said, and then returned to the States. The Pentagon said he was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team in the 101st, which is based at Fort Campbell, Ky. His unit went to Afghanistan in March.