The 18-year-old soldier killed in Iraq when a roadside bomb struck his patrol vehicle has been described as "a young man with so much promise".
Private Michael Tench of A Company, 2nd Battalion the Light Infantry, was killed and four soldiers were injured, one seriously, in the incident in the northern part of Basra on Sunday.
His colleagues and senior officers have paid tribute to the teenager from Sunderland, describing him as an enthusiastic and competent soldier who "liked a laugh".
Pte Tench was part of a Warrior patrol that had set out from Shaat Al Arab Hotel, a British army base in the north of Basra, when the device activated, the Ministry of Defence said.
The talented boxer had been deployed to Iraq in September 2006, after joining the British Army in Spring 2005 and being posted to the 2nd Battalion the Light Infantry in Edinburgh in December 2005.
His Company Commander, Major Andrew Ward, said: "He had the exemplary character that we have come to expect from the British infantryman: he was tough, resilient, liked a laugh, cheeky, but above all a professional. What struck me most about Michael was that he was 'up for it' and there was no job too tough.
"When his platoon was informed they would be attached to 1st Battalion The Staffordshire Regiment in Basra, there was no-one more chuffed than Michael, determined as he was to take the fight to the enemy."
Major Ward continued: "It is a tragedy that we have lost a young man with so much promise. We will miss Michael as a friend and as a fellow Light Infantryman."
Pte Tench's commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Arundell, said the young soldier was a well-liked and respected member of the Battalion, whose death had hit his colleagues hard.
"He will be sorely missed by all who knew him and whose lives he brightened by his presence," he said.
