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TOWN OF VERNON - An airman from Wisconsin died in Iraq this week along with seven Iraqi Air Force members in a helicopter crash, military officials said Wednesday. Staff Sergeant Christopher Frost, 24, went to Mukwonago High School but grew up in the Town of Vernon. He died Monday near Bayji, Iraq, when the Iraqi Army Mi-17 helicopter crashed, the Department of Defense said. The other seven people on board were members of the Iraqi Air Force, according to a statement on the Kirtland Web site. There were no survivors. The circumstances surrounding the accident remained under investigation, but the statement said the crash occurred in a dust storm. Friends of his family are heartsick. "Christopher was a great kid. He always smiled, and he always waved when he'd go down the street," said Donna Roepke. Roepke still lives next door to Frost's parents in the neighborhood where he grew up. She remembers the last time she saw him. "He was riding the bike with his two children back in October," Roepke said. Frost has two young children. Those who knew him say he was a great father and a great soldier. "I stayed in contact with his mom and dad and always asked, 'How's Christopher doing?'" Roepke told us. "They would always say he'll be home at such and such a date, or he'll be home for Christmas. Now he's not coming home," she said. Frost was assigned to the 377th Air Base Wing out of Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M. He was just finishing up his second tour in Iraq. He was reportedly scheduled to come home in 20 days. Frost, who worked in the base's public affairs office, had been deployed in Iraq since September. His role was to support a command team responsible for organizing and training Iraqi security forces. A six-year veteran of the Air Force, Frost was stationed at the Kirtland base since July 2005. Frost's grandmother, reached by telephone at home Wednesday night, told The Associated Press it was too early for her to discuss her grandson's death. "It's just too difficult," Mary Frost said. "It just makes me feel worse than I already do." An uncle of Christopher Frost also said the family would have no immediate comment. There have been 86 members of the military from Wisconsin killed in the Iraq war. (The Associated Press contributed to this report)