BRIGANTINE, N.J. — A 22-year-old soldier from Brigantine based in North Carolina died in Iraq from injuries he sustained during a non-combat related incident, the Department of Defense said May 9.

Sgt. Sameer A.M. Rateb, who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom, May 6 at Forward Operating Base Summerall in Bayji, Iraq. The cause of his death is being investigated, military officials said. Rateb, who joined the Army in March 2004, was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, at Fort Bragg, N.C.

“He joined the Army for all the right reasons,” his father, Mohamed Rateb told The Press of Atlantic City on May 9. “He felt very strongly about what he was going.”

Rateb, who was on his second deployment to Iraq, had received the Army Achievement Medal, the Army Good Conduct Medal and the Iraq Campaign Medal, among other awards. According to his father, Rateb would have been on leave from Iraq as of May 1.

In addition to his father, Rateb is survived by his mother, Erzsebet Howell; his wife, Tiffany Brooke Rateb; and a stepson, Jason.