Simmons joined the Army in 1992 as a power generation repairer. He embarked on the Special Forces Qualification Course and earned a Green Beret in 1999. The Ashland native became an instructor at the John F. Kennedy School and Center at Fort Bragg, N.C. He served as a Special Forces engineer sergeant in Afghanistan. He drowned in a noncombat accident on June 28, when the vehicle he was riding in rolled into a riverbed in Kandahar Province. Simmons lived most recently in Hope Mills, N.C. He leaves his wife, Tricia; a daughter, Erin; a son, Justin; and his mother, Alberta of Tallahassee, Fla.