HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -- A South Florida soldier killed this week in Iraq was looking forward to returning home and becoming a military recruiter at the end of his tour in December, his mother said.

Spc. Timothy Burke, 24, of Hollywood, died Wednesday in an attack in Taji, Iraq, his mother, Sharon Paulette, said.

Burke graduated in 2001 from South Broward High School, where he played football and wrestled. He enlisted in the Army in 2004 to further his dream of becoming a paramedic, Paulette said.

He was deployed to Iraq in December 2005 with B Troop, 7th Squadron, 10th Cavalry.

"It upset him when he had to shoot his first," she said Thursday. "It was really bad over there."

At the end of a visit home in April, Burke told his family he was scared he would never see them again, she said.

"It was so hard for him to get on that plane and go back," Paulette said.