ST. GEORGE, Utah — 25 year old Sgt. Bryan Cooper Mount was killed in a rollover accident while deployed in Syria, on Tuesday, July 21st.
Michell Mount didn’t know her husband had been in an accident until late that night, when she received a knock on the door.
She answered to find the army chaplain with some paperwork in his hand.
“That’s unfortunately, how they deliver the news that you’ve lost a soldier,” said Mount.
In just a matter of seconds, Mount says she experienced every stage of grieving.
“I couldn’t move,” said Mount. “I couldn’t walk or talk or do anything because it just felt so unreal.”
Five years of marriage together was all spent at Fort Bragg in North Carolina where the sergeant was a paratrooper.
“He jumped out of airplanes,” said Mount. “He loved and hated it.”
Sgt. Mount loved the thrill of the jump, but hated carrying the gear in one hundred percent humidity.
In his time stationed with the 82nd Airborne Division, Sgt. Mount moved quickly up the ranks.
“Bryan was an incredible Paratrooper and those who served with him will mourn his loss,” said Lt. Col. Val Moro, commander of the 73rd Calvary Regiment.
Sgt. Mount was deployed with 2nd Brigade Combat Team in 2017 during Iraq’s liberation of Mosul from the Islamic State.
Mount said her husband left for Syria in June and they weren’t sure how long this deployment would last, especially because of some COVID19 restrictions in place.
Just a month later is when Mount learned her husband had died from his injuries.
“He was just so loving,” said Mount. He would do anything for me. He just took care of me.”
Bronwyn and Bryan, Sgt. Mount’s parents said their son was a friend to everyone.
Bronwyn had just mailed a package addressed to her son in Syria the week before his death—the contents contained something for Sgt. Mount’s friend.
“He has befriended a handicap individual and asked us to help send patriotic things,” said Bryan. “This boy loved America.”
The package will arrive after Sgt. Mount’s body has been returned to the U.S.
“It makes me happy that he’ll still get those things,” said Bronwyn.
Sgt. Mount’s best friend though, was his older brother Dillon.
“They were always inseparable, whether it was army or life, they were there for each other,” said Bryan.
Dillon is stationed at Fort Bragg—a relief to the Mount family that someone will be there for the sergeant’s wife.
The cause of Sgt. Mount’s crash is still under investigation and the Mount family said they were not told what the assignment in Syria was—just that it was important.
“What Cooper was doing was vital to the freedoms of the people of the United States,” said Bryan. “He was out there serving everybody, not just a few, but everybody and that makes him my hero.”
The Mount family said they hope to have Sgt. Mount’s body back on U.S. soil by Monday.
His awards and decorations include the Army Commendation Medal with Combat Device, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Combat Action Badge, and the Army Parachutist Badge.
