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Private First Class Sam Huff
So it was a shock to her parents when Sam, at age 16, told them she wanted to go into the Army. She had a plan, she said. She’d serve her country first, then go to college to study psychology, then go to work for the FBI. Sam could have done almost anything in life. For beneath her feminine beauty was a rare combination of tough, determined inner strength and a soft compassionate heart. She could have been a model but she said she’d never take a job based only on her good looks.
On April 17th, 2005, while returning from guarding and Iraqi police station, the vehicle she was riding in was hit by a roadside bomb. Sam was critically injured. She quietly asked the sergeant next to her to pass along a message to her parents.
Today, the 18 year old girl with an inner strength and spirit well beyond her years – is resting at Arlington.
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When Sam Huff was 16 and a junior at Mountain View High School in Tucson, Arizona, she shocked her parents. Sam was a popular girl, full of life and curiosity, determined to make a difference in the world, and known as much for her caring heart as her social grace and striking beauty. Sam loved music and dancing – she loved Disney ballads and leading the Mountain View marching band. 
So, Sam stuck to her plan, and, after the rigors of basic training, Private First Class Sam Huff was deployed to Iraq as part of the 170th Military Police Company. When her Sergeant first saw his new recruit, he shook his head and said “five feet nothing, a hundred pounds of nothing”. But, the Sergeant soon discovered, as he would later say, “beneath that beautiful young lady was a backbone of steel”. So committed was Sam Huff that, despite the risks she knew all too well, she often remarked to her fellow soldiers that she wouldn’t change where she was for anything in the world. 
He said, “No, you’ll be able to make the call yourself.” Same responded, “No, I don’t think I can make it. Tell my Mom I love her and tell my Dad good luck with his album”
