Friends and family are mourning the loss of 21-year-old Rafael Nieves Jr., a former Guilderland High School student killed in Afghanistan on Sunday. Our Matt Hunter reports.

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GUILDERLAND, N.Y. -- Army Infantryman Rafael Nieves, Jr., 21, left for his first tour of duty in Afghanistan in November. He was set to make his first trip home to Guilderland in two weeks, before tragedy struck Sunday morning.

"Normally I hear about other people's kids, it never hit home before, this time it actually hit home," said Willie Dobbs, a family friend.

According to Nieves', father Rafael Sr., the young soldier was manning the top of a tank when he was shot in the chest. The elder Nieves received the heartbreaking call at 11:30 Sunday morning and by early evening, was still too emotional to talk about his son's death.

"Real hard, real hard, he's taking it really hard," said Edgar Marcano, a close friend of Nieves.

"He's very proud of him because he saw the turnaround it made in him,” Dobbs said. “He did a total 360, so he's definitely proud of him."

Seven years ago at the age of 14, Nieves Jr. moved to Guilderland to live with his father, after spending the early part of his life with his mother in New Jersey.

A former student at Guilderland High School, he married his wife Sarah two and a half years ago and leaves behind two young children.

"He's got a young daughter, it's hard on everybody,” Dobbs said. “Like I said, his father is proud of him, but he lost a son so he's taking it hard."

Family-friends call Nieves a nice kid with a big smile who turned his life around after a rough adolescence.

Funeral arrangements have not been set, but Nieves Sr. says services will be held in Jersey City, N.J. It figures to be a heart wrenching day, that came much too soon.

"He's going to be missed, he only had like two weeks left and I wish he would have made it home, he's going to be missed and loved," Marcano said.