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He was 28, the only son of parents who had watched him choose a dangerous calling and love it with his whole heart. Tech Sgt. Tyler Simmons died doing the job he believed he was meant to do, aboard a KC-135 refueling aircraft that never made it home from Iraq. Hours before the crash, he called his dad, Mylo, with a serenity that now feels unbearable: he said he loved him, asked him to tell his dog Grayson he loved him too, and admitted he didn’t think he would return.
