Sgt. John A. Carroll never wanted to be a solider.

He just needed a job.

Sgt. Carroll, a Greene County native who lived for several years in Pittsburgh, was killed on the job in Ramadi, Iraq, last Wednesday when he and his street foot-patrol were targeted by a sniper as they took a five-minute break.

Sgt. Carroll was shot once in the leg.

As the sergeant's patrol team returned fire, he bled to death nearby.

He turned 26 five days before he was killed.

His mother, Dawn Petrakovtis, of Lawrenceville, said her son joined the military in Oklahoma when he was drifting from state to state in the midst of a cross-country adventure.

Sgt. Carroll was also searching for a steady stream of income at the time. He was approached by an Oklahoma Army recruiter in 1999 who promised a chance to continue his education and a large signing bonus.

"He was in the Army for a job," said Mrs. Petrakovits. "He just wanted to get himself back home. He tried to be reasonable about it. John would tell me that there were some guys there for the glory, some guys who really believed in the war and that he was there just because they were paying him to do it."

Sgt. Carroll was often more concerned with making people smile then getting into an argument.

"He wanted to be the Bob Hope of his generation," his mother said.

But, he also had an adventurous side. "He was always adventurous," said Mrs. Petrakovtis. "That's why I always worried."

Sgt. Carroll was born in Greene County. He moved to Lawrenceville when he was 8 and then left to live with his father in Georgia in his mid-teens. He never graduated from high school but did receive a general education development degree.

He lived most of his late teens as a drifter, searching for odd jobs in different states.

He met his wife, Jessica Carroll, in Florida while on leave. The two were living in Germany, where Sgt. Carroll was stationed with the Army 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division.

He was on his third tour of Iraq and was due to be discharged in October. After completing his service, he planned to live in Tennessee with his wife because they both loved the mountains and the scenic surroundings.

His funeral will be in Tennessee and is planned for sometime this weekend.

Sgt. Carroll last spoke to his mother three weeks before he was killed.

"He sounded pretty stressed," Mrs. Petrakovits said. "I told him not to worry."