Protzenko, who was training the Afghan police force and military, was killed when the convoy he was traveling with came under attack.
Former Connecticut State Trooper Paul Protzenko, of Enfield, first row, third from left, with members of the Afghan National Police. Protzenko, who grew up in Agawam, was training Afghan Police. He was killed when the convoy he was traveling with came under attack on Saturday.ENFIELD – A retired Connecticut State Police officer from Enfield died in Afghanistan Saturday after his convoy came under attack.
Paul Protzenko, 46, grew up in Agawam, according to his brother-in-law , Andre J. Coulombe, of Chicopee.
“He was a terrific brother-in-law,” Coulombe said Monday. “He was just tremendous. You couldn’t hate the guy whatsoever.”
Protzenko was overseas training the Afghan police force and military, using his law-enforcement know-how to help U.S. Infantry assigned to the region, said David Richard Kiernan, spokesman for Protzenko’s employer, Military Professional Resources International (MPRI), in Alexandria, Va.
Protzenko spent six years in the Army before being injured in a parachute jump, said his brother-in-law Carl Bellefeille, of Westfield. Protzenko then spent more than 21 years with the state police, his last assignment being at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, before retiring in 2009.
Paul Protzenko“He always loved the service,” Bellefeille said. “Of course he made money going over there to train those guys in Afghanistan. But I think it meant more to him than the money. He wanted to help those people bring law and order to their country. He also just loved being with the Army.”
Coulombe said Protzenko also spent time training American and Canadian forces in ways to spot and avoid improvised explosive devices, the makeshift roadside bombs that create havoc in the Middle East.
Protzenko was traveling with a convoy on Saturday when an argument broke out in a roadside home, Bellefeille said. A gunman came outside and started shouting with people in Protzenko’s convoy. Then the gunman started shooting. Two, including Protzenko, were killed, and another was injured; Bellefeille didn’t know the nationality of the other casualties.
Coulombe said the family is gathering in Myrtle Beach, S.C., where Protzenko had purchased a home after he retired from the state police. His body is on its way to the military mortuary at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. The funeral will be later this week or early next week in this area, Coulombe said.
Protzenko was a father of three, Bellefeille said.
“He was just the sort of man you strive to be,” Bellefeille said. “I think my kids thought of him as a bigger father figure than they do me.”
At family gatherings, Protzenko spent time with the youngsters instead of socializing with the grownups, Bellefeille said.
“He kept them entertained and he kept them safe,” Bellefeille said.