An Army Special Forces officer from Haddon Heights was killed Friday in Afghanistan when an enemy bomb exploded near the vehicle he was traveling in, military officials said yesterday.  

Capt. Charles D. Robinson, 29, who was assigned to the First Battalion, Seventh Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg, N.C., had been deployed to Afghanistan in January as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. Army officials said he died instantly when the improvised explosive device detonated near Orgun-e, in the southeastern part of the country.

At least one other Special Forces soldier, Staff Sgt. Leroy E. Alexander, 27, of Dale City, Va., was killed in the explosion.

Military officials said Robinson joined the Army directly after graduating from Ohio's Cedarville University in May 1998, and was first assigned to the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82d Airborne Division at Fort Bragg. After completing a rigorous training program over more than two years, he joined the elite Special Forces in December 2003.  

Military officials said Robinson is survived by his wife, Laura; and parents, Charles and Janet Robinson of Browns Mills.  

AArmy Capt. Charles D. Robinson's life spanned the globe.

The son of missionaries based in Haddon Heights, Robinson spent much of his life in Paraguay, where he developed a love of languages and a bond with other Americans stationed overseas.

At Baptist Regional School in Haddon Heights, Robinson played soccer and kept in touch with friends after his family resumed their travels.

And after the Special Forces sent him to Afghanistan in January as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, Robinson asked his family to mail him care packages of candy. He planned to give them to children in villages he was helping rebuild.

Robinson, 29, was one of two Special Forces soldiers killed Friday when a bomb exploded near the ground mobility vehicle he was traveling in during operations near Orgun-e, in the southeastern region of Afghanistan. He had been assigned to the First Battalion, Seventh Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg, N.C.

"He put his heart and soul into everything he did," said his maternal grandmother, Doris Anderson of Woodstown. "He was outgoing in a quiet sort of way."

During Robinson's childhood, his parents, Charles and Janet, were missionaries based at Haddon Heights Baptist Church.

Robinson and his brother and sister were home-schooled by their mother in Paraguay, his grandmother said.

During one family furlough, Robinson spent his freshman and sophomore years at Baptist High School, which is affiliated with the church, head administrator Lynn Conahan said.

"He was easygoing, friendly, outgoing, and he could take a joke," said Conahan, whose son, P.J., was a friend of Robinson's. After Robinson's family returned to Paraguay, he continued to write letters to P.J., Conahan said.

Robinson later graduated from Asuncion Christian Academy in Paraguay, said his brother, Jeffrey.

In Paraguay, Robinson and his family developed a kinship with American military officials and other Americans living abroad, his grandmother said.

He later majored in international studies and global economics at Cedarville University in Ohio, graduating in 1998, according to university spokesman Roger Overturf. That was where he met his wife, Laura, a native of Iowa, said Overturf, who remembered the couple.

Several of Robinson's and his wife's relatives attended the tight-knit, 3,000-student university, Overturf said. "We're all pretty devastated here."

Robinson became involved in ROTC in college, which led him into the Army after graduation. He was first assigned to the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82d Airborne Division, based at Fort Bragg.

But "he wanted more than that," Anderson said. Robinson completed a rigorous training program over more than two years and joined the elite Special Forces in December 2003.

He lived with his wife in Fayetteville, N.C., and they were hoping to start a family soon, Anderson said. The family was hoping Robinson would return in August.

Laura Robinson said yesterday she did not want to comment.

Robinson's parents, who live in Pemberton Township, could not be reached yesterday.

Maj. Robert Gowan, a spokesman for the Army's Special Forces Command, said Robinson had been riding in a ground mobility vehicle. "It is a modified humvee," Gowan said, and was "heavily armored."

Also killed in the explosion was another member of Robinson's group, Staff Sgt. Leroy E. Alexander, 27, a Special Forces engineer sergeant from Dale City, Va.

Funeral arrangements were pending..