New Jersey Army National Guard Soldier Killed by Bomb in Afghanistan

A National Guard officer from Newark, who military officials say exemplified public service, died Wednesday in Paktika Province, Afghanistan, after insurgents apparently detonated an improvised explosive device.

Staff Sgt. Jorge Oliveira, 33, was on his third tour of duty with the New Jersey Army National Guard when he was attacked and killed, according to Chief Warrant Officer Patrick Daugherty, a spokesman for the state's National Guard.

"This was an honorable man," said Daugherty by phone Thursday evening from the Guard's office in Trenton. 

When not in fatigues, Oliveira worked as an Essex County Sheriff's officer. His boss, Sheriff Armando Fontoura, praised Oliveira's 11-year service to the department.

"He was the one everyone wanted as a partner," Fontoura said Thursday afternoon outside Oliveira's family home in Newark's Ironbound neighborhood. "He was respected and loved. Everyone was in tears this morning."

At the time of his death, Oliveira was a detective assigned to the fugitive squad, according to Kevin Lynch, a spokesman with the sheriff's office.

The staff sergeant is the 140th service member with connections to New Jersey that has died in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001, according to statistics compiled by The Star-Ledger. Daugherty said Oliveira, a native of Bairrada, Portugal, joined the National Guard in 2003 after serving in the U.S. Army from 1997 to 2000. 

While at the Guard, Oliveira served at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, from 2004 to 2005, and in Iraq from 2008 to 2009, according to Daugherty. The spokesman said the 33-year-old did a brief stint in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Daugherty said Oliveira left for his latest assignment in June with the Security Forces Platoon of the 2nd Battalion, 113th Infantry.

Fontoura said Oliveira, a 1996 graduate of East Side High School in Newark, never missed a day of work, "He would even volunteer to work holidays because he was single."

Outside Oliveira's family home Thursday afternoon on Darcy Street, sheriff's officers surrounded the block as Fontoura met inside with the guardsman's mother, Armanda, father, Manuel, sister, Jessica, brother, Marco, and friends. A National Guard officer paced in front of the house, wiping his eyes. The officer said he could not talk about the death.

The sheriff said Oliveira's family was too distraught to speak with this reporter. 

Lynch said the department plans to conduct an officers' funeral at Cathedral Basilica in Newark, but said that's still in preliminary stages.

Earlier Thursday, at an unrelated press event in Newark's Branch Brook Park, Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr. said Oliveira defined the role of a sheriff's officer and a guardsman, "Anytime he had the opportunity to go over there and serve and protect us all, he signed up."

Word of Oliveira's death quickly spread Wednesday into Thursday on the social networking sites Twitter and Facebook.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker said via Twitter late Wednesday night that his "heart aches" and that his "prayers are with (the) family."

The New Jersey State Patrolmen's Benevolent Association posted a photo on the organization's Facebook page around 11 a.m. Thursday of Oliveira in his National Guard uniform. Shortly after, more than 50 comments poured in about the officer — most said, "Rest in peace."

One comment, by Carol Piscitelli, called Oliveira an "American hero."

Daugherty, who said he didn't personally know Oliveira, echoed Piscitelli's comment, "He is an American hero."