[SIZE=18pt]Family loses 2nd son in Iraq[/SIZE]
[SIZE=14pt]Clovis man, 13 others die in helicopter crash.[/SIZE]
By James Guy and Marc Benjamin / The Fresno Bee
Another native son of Clovis died Wednesday in Iraq -- another sacrifice for the city and a double tragedy for one family.
Nathan Hubbard, who joined the U.S. Army after his brother Jared died in Iraq three years ago, was killed Wednesday in the crash of a U.S. Blackhawk helicopter in Iraq. The military said the aircraft was lost due to mechanical problems and not by hostile fire.
Nathan, 21, who joined the Army in 2005, was one of 14 service members killed when the Blackhawk went down during night maneuvers in an area of northern Iraq.
He is the seventh former Clovis Unified School District student to be killed in the conflict and the fifth from Buchanan High.
Marine Lance Cpl. Jared Hubbard was killed, along with schoolmate Jeremiah Baro, near Ramadi in November of 2004. Following Jared's death, Nathan and his older brother Jason Hubbard, then 31, joined the military under a buddy system that allowed them to serve together.
Jason Hubbard will be returning home to be with his family, Clovis police spokeswoman Janet Stoll-Lee said.
The family is taking the loss "very, very hard," she said, and has directed all questions to Stoll-Lee.
Jeff Hubbard, father of the three sons, is a retired 30-year veteran of the Clovis Police Department.
At the family home in Clovis, a flag flew at half-staff Wednesday night and a police officer was posted at the house to screen visitors.
Nathan, an army specialist, was assigned to the 25th Infantry Division based in Hawaii. He joined the military after working at a ski resort and a ranch. He and Jason, a former Fresno County sheriff's deputy, talked about signing up for the military shortly after Jared's death.
Nine months later, they joined the Army.
"Me and my family, we are moving forward," Nathan said in a 2005 interview.
"We are getting on with our lives. My brother -- my parents' son -- will always be in our hearts, and we'll always remember him and we'll always think of him and all that, but we've got to move on, and that's what we are doing."
Jason and Nathan said at the time they didn't worry about dying in the war.
"People are going to be hurt, and people are going to be killed," he said. "That is a reality you have to accept, but not dwell on."
The same interview revealed the tight bond among family members. Jason said he didn't believe he would have joined the Army if Jared hadn't been killed. Nathan said he was not sure what he would have done without Jason at his side. Their mother, Peggy, said she believed that Jason joined in part to protect Nathan after not being there to help Jared.
Service is part of the Hubbard family's history. The boys' grandfather served in World War II and was awarded a Purple Heart.
Jason and Nathan went through basic training together in Fort Benning, Ga.
Jason Hubbard has a wife, Linnea, and a son, Elijah, who is 2 years old.
Jared put on a uniform when he enlisted in the Marine Corps in December 2001 after his graduation from Buchanan High. He didn't go into the service with a brother, but he did go with Baro, his friend since middle school.
Nathan's death Wednesday shook Baro's mother, Terry Baro.
"I take my peace in the Lord," Terry Baro said.
"It never makes sense to us here," she said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the Lord and with the Hubbards."
Another family friend said Jeff Hubbard was worried for his sons and "very proud" because he knew they were committed to going on behalf of their fallen brother.
Keith Butterfield, whose son Tony graduated from Buchanan a year after Nathan Hubbard and died in Iraq last year, became close to the Hubbard family in the past year.
"[The Hubbards] were concerned," Butterfield said. "But they knew both boys had a drive and need to go in."
He said there is little solace he can offer to his friends except to be there for them.
"There is nothing anyone can say to make it better, but it's good to know that there are other families that can help you cope," Butterfield said. "It's bringing up the feelings of everyone else's loss, but we will be there for them."
But Butterfield added that coping is difficult even with faith.
"You have to believe in some kind of faith and there is a reason for this," he said.
Clovis Unified School District spokeswoman Kelly Avants said the district will have school psychologists available for students and teachers today.
She also said the district will be attempting to reach teachers before they arrive this morning.
"Our heart goes out to the family, and we feel their indescribable loss," Avants said Wednesday night.
It was the Pentagon's worst single-day death toll in Iraq since January and indicated how forces are relying heavily on air power in offensives across northern regions after rooting out many militant strongholds in Baghdad and central regions.
The UH-60 helicopter went down before dawn in the Tamim province that surrounds Kirkuk, an oil-rich city 180 miles north of Baghdad, said Lt. Col. Michael Donnelly, a military spokesman in northern Iraq.
He declined to be more specific about the location of the crash.
