The serious-looking soldier featured on the Memorial Day cover of this Sunday's Parade magazine is a Utah native whose family and friends know him better as a wily, affable prankster.
On the other hand, Spc. Matthew L. Hinck, 25, also "always liked a good fight."
"He was never one to back down from a fight," recalled his former Morgan High School math teacher Neil Carrigan. "He wasn't a kid that ever went looking for trouble, but he also didn't avoid it. If he felt that he was helping somebody else, he never backed up or anything."
Many residents of the small Morgan Valley town, including Carrigan and Hinck's lifelong best friend, Colby Little, didn't even know he'd been shipped to Kandahar, Afghanistan, 75 days ago as a specialist on the Army's 101st Airborne Division sniper team.
But it didn't surprise them.
"It fits his personality," said Little, an electrician who lives in Morgan but has been traveling in California over the past few months. "He was a jokester, and I warned him when he decided to sign up for the service that they don't take that kind of B.S. in the Army. But then again, he takes everything serious. When he decides he is going to do something and how he is going to do it, he does it and he's always the best at it."
Apparently so. After only 3 1/2 years in the military, Hinck is the designated sharpshooter for one of the division's scout reconnaissance platoons. He is among 3,500 soldiers from the 101st who are serving in central Asia. The rapid-deployment air assault division is comprised of 24,000 soldiers based at Fort Campbell, Ky., on the Tennessee state line 50 miles north of Nashville.
In an interview with Parade columnist James Brady, Hinck said: "Being here in Kandahar is the best thing I can do for my country."
The patriotic dedication he and other soldiers stand for is what landed Hinck on the cover of the magazine, which is tucked inside 335 major newspapers nationally, including the Deseret News, every Sunday and has a circulation of 36 million and a readership of 75 million annually.
"We infrequently cover 'real' people in the Brady column; it's usually celebrities, so this is not something we've really done much of before,"
said Parade spokeswoman Christie Emden. But in planning the Memorial Day issue, it was clear what message Parade editors wanted to convey.
And after a series of military communiqus, the magazine ended up choosing Hinck as the poster boy for its patriotic showcase.
"When Parade tried to do this story we contacted the U.S. Army, telling them we were looking for the quintessential American GI. They sent us a bunch of pictures and bios and background information," Emden said. "He got the luck of the draw. Everybody really liked Specialist Hinck."
Added Parade Editor Lee Kravitz: "Specialist Matthew Hinck is representative of the men and women of America's armed forces who serve to protect our freedoms here and abroad. These people well deserve recognition, and we're proud to feature Specialist Hinck on the cover of our Memorial Day issue."
Matthew = 'Biff'?
All this attention on a young man who got suspended from school for fighting a classmate who was teasing his younger sister; who got in trouble at the grocery store where he worked for putting his boss's house up for sale in the Morgan County News at a bargain basement price under the explanation "forced to relocate/job transfer"; who was known among his peers back home by the nickname "Biff."
Biff?
"Seriously, I'm not kidding," Little said. "Everybody called him that. I don't know why. That nickname just always stuck with him. I don't know where it came from, but I suspect it was because he was always friends with everybody."
Asked if he worries about his friend when news of American soldier deaths have continued to filter home since the raids on Afghanistan began post-Sept. 11, Little and Hinck's family offer a resounding no.
"He can take care of himself, trust me," Little said. "What I picture is Biff with that grin from ear to ear after he's played a practical joke, after he'd dealt one on somebody. He was the one who would always get away with it. He'll be fine."
Little and his family point to the four years Hinck spent riding bucking horses bareback in the high school's rodeos — and getting hurt every time but getting back on every time — as evidence of his commitment and endurance.
"Every weekend he'd get a free ride in the ambulance. He'd land on his head a lot," Little recalled. And this following his first two injuries during freshman-year rodeo that left him with two broken arms. "I couldn't figure out why he kept doing it. He was so bad at it. But that's just him," Little said. "It's just one of those things he did because he loved it."
Those bucking-bronco rides "were the longest eight seconds of my life every weekend," said Hinck's mother, Carol Ralphs. The fact he kept it up despite "a lot of broken bones" scared her more than his presence in a war-torn zone does now, she said.
That's because Hinck comes from a military background — his grandfather Lloyd Warner, 88, of Mountain Green served in World War II as a major; his father, Nolan Hinck, 61, of Layton served in the Army National Guard; and his stepfather, Keith Ralphs, 56, also of Mountain Green, served in Vietnam.
'Never a dull moment'
Hinck also grew up around guns.
Carol Ralphs has worked at the corporate headquarters of Browning and Winchester Firearms in Mountain Green for 21 years. She's been around firearms all her life, as have her children, which in addition to Hinck include two older brothers, two sisters, a stepbrother and two stepsisters — a clan whose ages span no more than 10 years. Matthew Hinck is the family's youngest male.
His affinity for guns drew itself boldly when he gave his bride, Ann, a Browning 270 rifle as a wedding gift. Inscribed on the handle are the words: "Best Friends Forever." The couple have known each other since kindergarten. "They've always been there for each other, all the way through high school," said Ann's mother, Enid Mecham.
They got engaged on July 4, 1999, married Jan. 26, 2000, and were sealed in the Nashville LDS temple Nov. 20, 2001 — the day before President Bush visited Fort Campbell. The local stake president for The Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints urged them to go through the ceremony before that visit, fearing the president was about to deploy the unit, which happened a few months later.
"I talked to him at 3 a.m. this morning," Ann Hinck said earlier this week. "He's doing good. He says not to worry, that he's taking care of himself and that he's continuing his pranks over there to keep a little humor in the whole thing, to keep the tension down."
That may not have worked for one of his superior officers. In a letter to his wife in April, Hinck wrote: "Today I poked holes in my platoon sergeant's (chewing tobacco) spit bottle. I have yet to see what my consequences are."
Commented Ann: "There is never a dull moment with him . . . , but I'm not worried. He can take care of himself. I love him. He's my hero."
'As long as it takes'
Hinck writes and calls his wife and family as often as he can, at least once a week, and has told them that his surroundings are harsh but familiar.
"When we found out he was going to Afghanistan, I thought, 'Where better to go?' " Ralphs said. "He was raised in the mountains, he's familiar with the cold. He knows his job and he's spiritually prepared. They needed him there. I'm proud that he's there."
Outside the home where Hinck grew up waves an American flag, hoisted as soon as he enlisted in the service, and now a 101st Airborne Division Screaming Eagles flag, raised when his unit was deployed to Afghanistan.
They will remain sentinel over the family's home even after Hinck returns, Ralphs said. According to her son's interview with Brady, himself a veteran, that could be awhile.
In Hinck's own words: "We're here as long as it takes . . . sir."
E-mail: nwagner@desnews.com