Army Intelligence Soldier Dies in Afghanistan

Adam Kuligowski loved puzzles.

His dad, Mike, says he was a kid you could stick in a room, give him a problem, and let him loose.

He remembers one Christmas morning a few years ago giving his son a computer game called Sim Ant.

TAPE: in the game, it’s a simulation and you are an ant. And it’s all to scale...so you are an ant in the back field and your objective is to get into the farm house, get into the kitchen and get into the food.

A father of four, Mike says he quickly forgot about Adam and Sim Ant until 8 or 9 hours later when the boy walked into the living room.

TAPE: and he goes, ‘I’m done.’

Mike says it came as no surprise that his son could breeze through complicated strategic games.

It was what set him apart.

Adam’s boyhood also made him different.

Thanks to his father’s job in the Foreign Service, Adam had lived in South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Honduras when he began middle school in Derry.

He arrived with unusual interests.

While most boys were into the Red Sox and dating, Adam liked quirky films, the music of David Bowie and speculative historical fiction.

Apart from his older brother Stefan, Adam didn’t have friends.

TAPE: Adam always used to say, ‘I’m not a people person. You know I am not a people person....it was hard having a phone conversation with him, it was one word answers. He was very matter of fact. You would ask him something and he would say ‘yes.’ ‘no.’ Or this or that, and that was it.

Despite Adam’s intelligence, he struggled in school.

Lacking the credits he needed to graduate, Adam dropped out.

He went to Arlington, Virginia where his father had moved after Adam’s parents divorced.

There he got his GED and a driver’s license.

And he joined the military.

His grandfather had been a cryptologist in World War II, Mike had also done similar work for the Army.

After Adam aced the entrance test, Mike knew he would like his son to get a job in the family business: Army intelligence.

TAPE: cause me, as a dad, I am thinking intelligence jobs are not on the front line, intelligence jobs are behind the front lines. They are working down underneath the ground in a bunker. They are working in top secret area that’s safe. I wanted to keep him safe. Plus I knew it was a good fit for him.

For a kid who liked to solve riddles, Adam’s job with the 101st Airborne Division suited really suited him.

He told his dad he had to sift through intercepted Taliban cell phone conversations looking for patterns and codes.

The work seemed to open him up.

Instead of just answering his father’s questions, he started talking with him.

He and his brother Stefan went out and sang karaoke together while he was on leave.

TAPE: one of the last emails I got from him, and he said, ‘one of my buddies is interested in going in the state department....and I just remember at that point, he’s got buddies, cool.’

Enamored with the job, Adam declared his desire to retire as an Army man.

But long days and tedious tasks like KP and guard duty wore off some of the luster.

He and his dad started talking about the next chapter in Adam’s life.

His dad knew somebody who said after his Army stint in Afghanistan he could line Adam up with a computer job, starting at $75,000 a year.

TAPE: it’s a stupid job, but...it would be a great job while you went to college....and Stefan wanted to come down and live with him...you are making good money, you got your brother there with you. And I said, ‘you have so many options open to you.’ And he said, ‘I know, it’s good.’ He was excited about the future.

Mike’s work has taken him to Bangkok.

And over the past year, Adam would reach him there by phone most Mondays.

The Monday Adam died was a holiday in Thailand.

The two had agreed to talk Tuesday.

That call never came, and the next thing Mike knew he was on a 30-hour flight back to New Hampshire.

TAPE: I woke up this morning and I looked up and I saw some light coming through the window and at first I was disoriented, we had been flying so long, and I was like, ‘where the hell am I?’ and all of a sudden it hit me, I am in hotel room. And I am home to bury my son.

The Army is still investigating Adam Kuligowski’s death.

And so the family waits for the official report.

Adam always enjoyed putting together pieces to come up with answers.

But his dad Mike knows regardless of the answer the Army provides; he’ll still have questions.

For NHPR News, I’m DG.