A soldier's wife says her husband joined to Army to make his children proud. Sergeant Kenneth Nichols was killed less than a week ago in Afghanistan. Nichols was part of the 4th Brigade Combat Team based at Fort Carson.

A rocket-propelled grenade hit Nichols' convoy on December 1st. He had spoken with his wife on the phone right before his mission. “He had just got pinned to Sergeant, which was a very big deal to him. When he got pinned, they told him that he was going to go out with a platoon on a mission that night," says Lexy Nichols.

That night would be the last time she would hear her husband's voice. He died on that mission, leaving a 9-month-old little girl without a father. “She's never going to know him. It's funny… she acts a lot like him for not being around him," says a tearful Lexy.

SGT Nichols also has three older children. “I feel more sorry for his kids because they did know him and they do remember and they know what happened, you know," Lexy says.

This was 28-year-old SGT Nichols second tour. "You could look at him and you could just tell that he was a soldier," she says.

He was supposed to come home on leave this week to celebrate the holidays with his family.

Nichols' unit, the 4th BCT, has been hit pretty hard. They've lost 22 soldiers while fighting in Afghanistan.