West Jordan » Not yet two days had passed since the death of Utah soldier Aaron Nemelka and 12 others in a mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas. In the midst of the confusion, grief and anger emanating from an Army officer's murderous rampage there are far more questions than answers.

Perhaps, at some point, more will be known about what drove Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an active-duty Army psychiatrist, to open fire in a building crowded with fellow soldiers preparing to go to war. Was it social isolation? Mental illness? Religious zealotry? Could this have been foreseen? Could he have been stopped?

But Michael Blades already knows one thing for certain: No matter what answers the future brings, his family will never make sense of the day that his nephew's life was taken.

"We're all trying to make sense of this, but you just can't," he said, "because this doesn't make sense."

Blades, himself an officer in the Army, knew that his nephew was stationed at Fort Hood. And as he watched the events unfold from his home in Helena, Mont., he worried for the teenage soldier. But as the hours passed with no word from Nemelka, Blades refused to let his mind wander into the dark. "You don't want to think about it," he said. "So you don't."

And then, late in the evening, there was a knock on the door of the Nemelka's family home in West Jordan. Two officers stood at the stoop. Nemelka was dead.

Blades got the news shortly thereafter. He packed a bag and started to drive.

By Friday evening, the family had decided it wanted the world to know how Nemelka lived, not just how he died. Blades was asked to spread the word.

On Saturday morning, dressed in his Army fatigues, the broad-shouldered Army major stood before a row of television cameras, a single sheet of paper trembling in his hands.

"Aaron," he began, "was a very happy kid."

A soccer player. A bowler. A snowboarder. An avid fan of the Utah Utes. "He loved music," Blades said. "Drums and the guitar."

Nemelka was proud to be in the Army and "intensely proud to serve under the leadership of the president," Blades said.

The young soldier didn't like the divisions he saw in his nation. "First and foremost, he believed we are all Americans," Blades said. "He did not like all the negativity."

In joining the military, Nemelka followed in the footsteps of grandfathers, uncles and cousins who had served and were serving. "He felt it was his duty to stand with them in defense of this country," Blades said.

How could another soldier have taken such a man's life? No, that will never make sense.

But one thing is certain, Blades said: "We love him. We miss him."

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