OUR NEIGHBORS AT WAR. 52-year-old Waukesha soldier killed in Afghanistan.

Sgt. 1st Class Merideth Howard died when a car bomber slammed into a Humvee carrying 15 people, killing her and one other person, according to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times newspaper in Texas.

Howard, a Corpus Christi native, joined the Army Reserves in 1988 and went to Afghanistan in April, said her husband, Hugh Hvolboll.

She was a member of the 364th Civil Affairs Brigade in support of the 10th Mountain Division.

Howard was a firefighter before she began a career as a fire-safety consultant out of their Waukesha home.