The Los Angeles Times reported Oct. 25 that Paul Neubauer attended his first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in 1995, at age 30, after hitting bottom. "Life was falling through my sleeves," he said in 2004. "I had always been the one who kicked the guy off the corner who was waving his arms and talking to God. And suddenly I was the guy doing that."

After getting sober, he convinced National Guard recruiters that his drinking was in the past and took on the challenge of military boot camp. "He came back from that first training a changed man," said friend Frank Jones.

Neubauer, 40, died last month in a roadside bombing in Baghdad, where he was serving with the 1st Battalion, 184th Regiment of the California National Guard. By that time, he had turned his life around from having a daughter taken away by child-welfare officials to converting to Islam and inspiring others with his story of personal recovery from addiction. His memorial service in Santa Monica this month drew more than 400 mourners, including many members of his AA group.

Neubauer told friends his Islamic faith gave him empathy for the Iraqi people, with whom he sometimes prayed. But he also strongly defended the U.S. mission in Iraq.

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