Russell Seager enlisted to help soldiers deal with the stresses of war.

At 51, the teacher and nurse practitioner from Mount Pleasant in Racine County pushed officials with the Army Reserves to let him deploy to a war zone.

But on Thursday, as he prepared for a mission to Iraq with the Madison-based 467th Medical Detachment, Seager, a Captain, was among the 13 people shot and killed at Fort Hood, Texas, by what police say is a psychiatrist and fellow soldier.

"He wanted to get in there and help the soldiers coming home and leaving," said Seager's uncle, Larry Seager, from his home in Mauston. "I still can't believe it. Such a foolish thing" Seager said of the shooting.

Russell Seager was a nurse practitioner since 2008 in the primary care mental health integration program at the VA Medical Center and a teacher since 2005 at Bryant & Stratton College both in Milwaukee.

He joined the Army Reserve about four years ago.

According to a profile of Seager in August by WUWM-FM radio in Milwaukee, Seager treated veterans suffering from mental health problems related to their war experience. In Iraq, he was to help soldiers address those problems as they appear.

At the VA, Seager led a mental health team. His patients ranged from those in their twenties just back from Iraq and Afghanistan, to veterans in their 80s and 90s, the station reported.

"I've always had a great deal of respect for the military and for service, and I just felt it was time that I stepped up and did it, actually," Seager told the station. "I mean it sounds corny and patriotic, but when you talk to people that decide to do this, the feelings are similar."

Seager is survived by his wife and an adult son.

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