Their Story
Remembering Dylan R. Paytas.
A Georgia-based soldier from a suburb of Pittsburgh who was due to return home in two months was killed in Iraq, the Pentagon announced Nov. 17.
Pvt. Dylan R. Paytas, 20, of Freedom, died Nov. 16 in Baqubah, Iraq.
He was assigned to the Army’s 3rd Brigade Troops Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division, in Fort Benning, Ga.
Freedom Area High School principal Robert Staub said school officials learned of Paytas’ death Thursday when his father, John, came to the school to let them know.
Staub said Paytas, a member of the basketball team who took business and office technology courses, was the kind of student who teachers and administrators remember well.
“Dylan was a very vibrant, full of life, high energy, good kid,” Staub said. “He was the kind of kid who makes high school fun.”