PLYMOUTH — Army Staff Sgt. Justin DeCrow never doubted what his life’s work would be.

“He always wanted to be a soldier,” Marikay DeCrow, his sweetheart from Plymouth High School and wife of 14 years, said in a statement Saturday.

DeCrow reached his goal shortly after graduating from high school in 1996 and served 13 years in the military before his life was tragically cut short by the shooting spree that killed 13 people Thursday at Fort Hood, Texas.

The couple wed during the spring they graduated from high school and DeCrow enlisted that summer.

The 32-year-old man’s “infectious charm and wit always put others at ease. He will be greatly missed,” his wife said.

He was assigned to Fort Gordon, Ga., in 2000 to attend training for his job as a satellite communications operator-maintainer. The couple and their daughter, Kylah, 13, lived in nearby Evans, Ga.

DeCrow had been assigned to Fort Hood since September, and was scheduled to be deployed to Iraq soon, according to a news release from the Army.

His parents still live in Indiana. Daniel DeCrow said he spoke with his son last week.

“As usual, the last words out of my mouth to him were that I was proud of him,” he told the Associated Press. “That’s what I said to him every time - that I loved him and I was proud of what he was doing. I can carry that around in my heart.”

Marla Jones, a public affairs officer at Fort Gordon, said on Saturday that the family plans to have the funeral in Indiana, but arrangements have not been finalized.