Gunnery Sgt. Ronald E. Baum taught survival skills to soldiers in Rangeley.

PITTSBURGH (AP) – A Marine from western Pennsylvania who volunteered to go to Iraq was killed Monday in the Al Anbar province, where the turbulent cities of Ramadi and Fallujah are located, according to defense officials and his family.

Gunnery Sgt. Ronald E. Baum, 38, of Hollidaysburg, was a member of the 2nd Intelligence Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

He was also an instructor at the Naval Survival School in Rangeley, Maine, where he taught soldiers to survive in hostile environments and evade capture.

Defense officials did not release further information. His brother Jodi Baum, 28, of Altoona, said defense officials told the family that Baum was in the turret of a Humvee when it was hit by a rocket. Two other Marines in the vehicle survived, Jodi Baum said.

“Ronnie was just so incredible. He volunteered to go to Iraq. He said it would be an opportunity to fulfill his mission and he did it. If there was any way to go, this was the way he would have wanted it,” his brother said.

Ronald Baum and another brother, Marine Staff Sgt. Brian Baum, 37, both joined the Marines in 1986, Jodi Baum said. Ronald Baum took the Marines more seriously.

According to Navy and Marine Web sites, Baum took part in the evacuation of 172 people in Eritrea during a border dispute with Ethiopia in 1998.

Baum was an instructor at the Rangeley survival school from August 1999 to June 2003, according to a spokesman for Brunswick Naval Air Station.

The school teaches half of the Navy’s flyers and others from throughout the military what to do if they crash behind enemy lines. The school’s name, SERE, stands for survival, evasion, resistance and escape.

Ronald and Brian Baum were stationed in Iraq, according to Jodi Baum.

Ronald Baum was an avid sports fan and would often call his brothers while watching Pittsburgh sports teams and Penn State football games.

He is survived by his wife, Cindi Baum, 29, and three children, ages 3, 7 and 10.