[Arizona Daily Star, Tucson, AZ, 15 Jul 2010, Thu, Main Edition, Page A013]

Spc Christopher J. Moon, 20, of Tucson, Ariz., died July 13 at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device on July 6 in Arghandab, Afghanistan.

He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Chris starred at Tucson High School, was the 2006 Southern Arizona Player of the Year and earned a scholarship to the UA. Following his first semester, he left school and enlisted in the Army in 2008. He was a talented pitcher and outfielder, one who could have contributed to a team that was ranked preseason No. 1 in the nation. At Tucson High School Christopher was a standout football and baseball player, good enough to get a full ride on the diamond at the University of Arizona and beyond.

But Chris gave it all up for another field, the battlefield in Afghanistan. Even in the little leagues everyone knew that #9 was a special number, and not just because Chris Moon could hit the ball better than everyone else or catch it with more grace during high school, his real star power came in how he did it all. A man among boys when it came to athletic ability, the 2006 Southern Arizona Baseball Player of the Year. But even with pro prospects in sight and a full scholarship to the University of Arizona with a chance to start as a freshman on the preseason number one team in the nation, this field of dreams began to fade.

Chris stepped on a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. He was 20. Both of his legs were amputated and he was being treated in a hospital in Germany.