BARNESVILLE, Ga. — A Georgia National Guard soldier killed by a roadside explosive in Afghanistan was remembered as “an asset to the United States Army” during funeral services May 31, 2008.

“I have known good soldiers over the years, yet none any better,” said Lt. Col. Karl Slaughenhaupt of Master Sgt. Davy Nathaniel Weaver during his eulogy.

Weaver, 39, died May 18 after his Humvee was hit by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan. The 1987 graduate of Lamar County High School in Barnesville had previously done tours in Bosnia and Iraq.

He lived in Hinesville, a town about 200 miles southeast of Atlanta, with his wife, Kathy Tooney Weaver, and a 2-year-old daughter. Two sons from a previous marriage live in Auburn, Ala.

Slaughenhaupt said Weaver spent an extra three months in Afghanistan because he knew there were personnel shortages there. The extra time proved fatal.

“There can be no doubt in anybody’s mind that he gave his life, not just for his country,” Slaughenhaupt said. “It was something more than that. It was a love for his fellow soldiers. It was the guys on his left and right.”

Weaver was a member of the Guard’s 48th Brigade, headquartered in Macon.

Speakers were set up outside Lilla Memorial Baptist Church for the overflow crowd. About 50 members of Weaver’s National Guard unit left training exercises at Fort Benning to attend the funeral. The unit expects to be deployed to Afghanistan next year.