Army Lieutenant Colonel David Cabrera

Army Lieutenant Colonel David Elliot Cabrera, 41, of Abilene, Texas, was a licensed clinical social worker and assistant professor at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. He was killed on October 29, 2011, when a Taliban suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the armored NATO bus in which he was traveling in Kabul, Afghanistan.

LTC Cabrera graduated from Sam Houston High School in Houston in 1988. He earned a psychology degree from Texas A&M University, a master’s degree in social work from the University of Texas at Arlington and a doctorate from the Catholic University of America. He joined the Army Medical Service Corps in January 1996 and served more than 15 years, including deployments to Bosnia and Iraq. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on September 1, 2011, and deployed to Afghanistan later that month.

LTC Cabrera’s humor, easygoing personality and infectious smile made him popular with family, colleagues, students and patients. An adventurous traveler, he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Rainier and other peaks,

LTC Cabrera was survived by his wife and four children.