The news came by phone, television, e-mail and the Internet.

One by one, the family and friends of Utahn Aaron Nemelka learned of a mass shooting at the Army's Fort Hood, in Texas, on Thursday afternoon.

The first vague details became clearer as evening fell. A lone gunman had opened fire in a building full of soldiers preparing to deploy overseas.

Everyone knew Nemelka was at Fort Hood.

And no one could reach him.

Frantic over her brother as the night drew on, Ashlee Brewer sent a note to friends on Facebook. "We sit and stress and they can't tell us anything," Brewer wrote. "I guess I can take comfort in the fact he cannot possibly be injured because then I would know where he is."

She was right. According to most accounts, by late Thursday night, the wounded soldiers' families had been notified. Meanwhile, the Army was dispatching teams of officers across the country to notify the families of the dead.

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'He was excited.' » Nemelka, 19, had only been at Hood for a short time. The West Jordan teenager, an Eagle Scout and the youngest of four children, had enlisted in the Army after graduating from West Jordan High School last year. He was a member of the 510th Engineering Company, 20th Infantry Battalion, 36th Engineering Brigade. He told his family and friends that he wanted to go to war so that he could help dismantle the powerful roadside bombs that have accounted for so many fellow soldiers' deaths.

His first combat tour was scheduled to begin in January. In December, family members said, he was planning to return home to propose to his girlfriend. "He was excited," said Lindsey Nemelka, his sister-in-law. "He had the ring."

But Nemelka first had to run the bureaucratic gauntlet at Hood's infamous Soldier Readiness Center. There was paperwork and medical tests. Combat stress briefings, family counseling and financial advising. Military members sometimes complain of the monotony of it all. But officials say the system is necessary; the Army does what it can to prepare its soldiers for year-long combat deployments.

But there was nothing it could have done to prepare its soldiers for this.

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'My heart just goes out.' » Injured Utahn Joey Foster was in the same building as Nemelka when the shooting began. The two soldiers shared similar stories, although it's unclear whether they knew one another. Both had joined the military seeking to set their lives straight. Both were preparing to be deployed to Afghanistan. Both had told family and friends that they were ready to go to war.

Foster was standing in line when the explosive burst of gunfire began. "A man stood

up and started yelling in Arabic," said Aggie Foster, of Ogden, who spoke to her soldier son just hours after the shooting. "And then, at some point, he got hit. My son was shot."

Though struck in the hip, Foster managed to pull several other soldiers to safety, Aggie Foster said.

"I'm proud," she said. "But of course I wish this had never happened."

Breaking into tears as she recalled her terrified reaction in the moment between hearing her son had been shot and learning he would survive, Foster said she was anguished for the families of the 13 people killed.

"My heart just goes out to them," she said.

Thirty more were wounded in the melee.

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'Foreign and domestic threats.' » Late Thursday, Nemelka's family still had not received any word from the young soldier. Repeated attempts to call the base were futile, so Lindsey Nemelka started calling Fort Hood-area hospitals, to no avail.

And then, the news came.

Nemelka was among the dead. The shooter was a fellow soldier.

"We all take an oath to protect our country from foreign and domestic threats, but we don't realize domestic threats," said Charles Schmidt, of West Valley City, a friend who returned home from basic training just as Nemelka left for his. "He couldn't have expected that."

Lindsey Nemelka fought back tears as she described her brother-in-law's dedication to the Army.

"He was very proud," she said. "He was happy with his commitment. He was happy to be deployed to serve his country."

Dozens of American flags were planted outside Nemelka's parents' home, not far from the banks of the Jordan River in West Jordan on Friday. Inside, Nemelka's family tried to sort through the shock and pain.

"They're very devastated," said Lt. Col. Lisa Olsen, part of a team of reserve military members that has been assigned to assist the family. "But they're a big family and they're very tight and so they're going to get through this."

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'A kind and loving son.' » Early on Friday afternoon, Michael and Teena Nemelka released a statement expressing admiration for their slain son. "Our family is so proud to have him serving our country in the military," they said.

Nemelka's uncle said his nephew had joined the military at the urging of a cousin who is serving in Germany. "He was convinced that it was a good route to take in his life," Christopher Nemelka said.

He described his nephew as a "wonderful human being who was very tender-hearted... He loved people and accepted them for how they are."

In the statement, the family described Nemelka as "a kind and loving son, brother, nephew, cousin and favorite uncle." Nemelka enjoyed watching cartoons with his nieces and nephews.

A group of 10 of Nemelka's high school classmates arrived at the Nemelka family home Friday carrying large vases of flowers. Jeff Rudd, of West Jordan, called his friend "the kind of guy you could never get mad at. He never said a bad thing about anybody."

Rudd's words echoed the sentiments of friends and family from all over the country, who lit up the Internet with expressions of grief and praise.

Nemelka's friend, Kelsi Nielsen, wrote simply: "He was a hero."

mlaplante@sltrib.com / blogs.sltrib.com/military

Elizabeth Neff and Brian Maffly contributed to this report.