Wisconsin Army National Guard Specialist Stephen W. Castner, 27, of Cedarburg, Wisconsin, died Monday, July 24, 2006, in Iraq. His unit was Battery C, 1st Battalion, 121st Field Artillery Regiment, Wisconsin Army National Guard out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Specialist Castner died of injuries sustained when a roadside bomb detonated near his Humvee during combat operations in Tallil, Iraq. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel noted Castner had only been in Iraq less than a week and was on his first combat mission there. Steve graduated from Cedarburg High School in 1997. He joined the Air Force and served for four years and worked in electronic communications mostly in Wyoming.  After his Air Force duty he then joined the Army National Guard. Stephen worked in the information technology department at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and was pursuing a degree in public land management when his unit was activated in April of 2006. In the Army, Castner was an infantryman and trained as a machine gunner. The 1st Battalion, 121st Field Artillery unit has headquarters in Milwaukee and also maintains units in Sussex, Plymouth, and Two Rivers, Wisconsin. Four-hundred and thirty-five members of the unit, along with soldiers from other units across Wisconsin, were mobilized in April of 2006. They spent several months in Camp Shelby, Mississippi and arrived in Kuwait in July 2006. The unit's mission included about 18 months in the war region. According to the data base iraq.pigstye.net (information base for military casualties) Castner was traveling along the six-lane Main Supply Route Tampa into Baghdad from Kuwait. At the time it had a reputation as the deadliest highway in the world. At the time of his death Stephen was survived by his parents, Stephen and Kathryn Castner. Stephen was laid to rest at Wood National Cemetery in Milwaukee.  Army National Guard Specialist Stephen Castner was the 58th Wisconsin military service person to be killed in Iraq since the spring of 2003.