A 2006 Brandywine High School graduate has been killed while serving in Afghanistan in the U.S. Navy.

Benjamin Rast, 23, a hospital corpsman, was killed Wednesday by a hellfire rocket. The Department of the Navy could not provide more information Friday.

His father, Robert Rast of South Bend, declined an interview with the Star, but said he is “extremely proud” of his son.

“I’m extremely distraught,” he said.

His father said the family would like to hold the visitation and memorial service at the Brandywine auditorium to accommodate the large number of visitors expected to come from around the country. A service has yet to be scheduled at the school, a Brandywine employee said Friday afternoon.

Rast was a football and baseball player at Brandywine.

Terry Borr, the track coach at Brandywine who coached football Rast’s junior and senior years, called his player “a good kid who worked hard.”

Borr recalled that Rast, who played tight end and linebacker, “got into some trouble” his sophomore year and was not allowed to play football his junior year. However, he did not miss a practice.

“He was dedicated to football and loved football that much,” Borr said. “He did whatever we asked him to do — set up the field, all the little things. He was there for his teammates.”

Rast was injured two games into his senior year and missed the rest of the season.

His mother, Diane, also became ill and died that October after complications from a surgery.

“He was very, very close to her,” said Nicole Ignowski, Rast’s former girlfriend. “It was very devastating to him.

“Now they can be together,” she said.

Shortly after his mother’s death, Rast’s half-brother was murdered in Louisiana by a robber. Rast had no other siblings.

On his MySpace profile, Rast said his hero was “my mom.”

“A new day begins today,” Rast said in his profile. “God has been looking out for me … I’m lucky.”

According to Ignowski, he had a family in the military. He went to boot camp in April 2009 in Chicago, and then graduated from medic training before heading to a Marines base in San Diego, where he lived for about a year and worked as a medic. He volunteered for a tour in Afghanistan, and left in February.

“I had a lot of fun with him,” said Ignowski, who dated Rast for five years, beginning when she was 14. “He loved Michigan football; he always had to watch every single game. He loved animals. He always wanted a puppy and he was going to get a puppy when he got out of Afghanistan.

“He always wanted to be the person who made people laugh,” she said.

Rast studied criminal justice for a couple years at Lake Michigan College, and interned in high school at the Michigan State Police Niles Post, where he went on ridealongs with officers.

Ignowski, a 2008 Niles High School graduate and Kalamazoo resident, became acquainted with Rast’s friends from boot camp, and was happy to see he had a second family in his fellow soldiers.

“It was completely the best decision he could have made for himself as a person,” she said of his joining the military. “He realized what he wanted in his life. He was finally figuring everything out.

“I never, ever thought it would be Ben,” she said of his death. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would happen to him.”