Arkansas lawmaker recalls friend as strong, smart

Arkansas Rep. Jon Woods said he got an email Saturday morning that one of his friends was among those killed in the helicopter shot down in Afghanistan.

The email was from Elizabeth Newlun, mother of Air Force Tech. Sgt. John W. Brown.

"For a second, I thought maybe she's talking about somebody else," he said Sunday. But soon, "everything came crashing down."

Woods said he and Brown had lived down the street from each other and had been good friends in high school.

Brown graduated in 1996 from Siloam Springs High School, in northwest Arkansas.

The two played basketball and ran track together, the state legislator said.

Woods recalled how tired he would be after practice and how Brown would go home, eat dinner, put his tennis shoes back on and run for another hour or two.

He described his friend as the "perfect soldier" but also as someone with the potential to do many things.

"Physically, he was Superman," Woods said. But he was extremely intelligent as well, he said.

Woods said Brown went to college for about a year before he joined the military, something he had always talked about.

"He was very patriotic," he said. "He loved his country."

Woods said Brown - whom he believed was stationed in North Carolina - was well trained in rescue operations, and he could see why Brown would be chosen to work in special missions.

"His physical stature and mental stature made him the perfect combination to be teamed with those SEALs," he said.

Woods said Brown was married but had no children.

Janie Bryant, (757) 446-2453, janie.bryant@pilotonline.com