A soldier from Clovis who was within a month of completing his Army service was killed in Afghanistan on Monday, his brother said Tuesday.

Staff Sgt. Brian Piercy, 27, was killed during a foot patrol north of Kandahar when an improvised explosive device detonated, said his brother, David Piercy.

The Clovis solider, a 2001 Buchanan High School graduate, would have completed his second tour of Afghanistan in about 30 days and was planning to move back to California from North Carolina with his wife, Christina, David Piercy said.

Piercy's family was notified of his death Monday night.

Piercy is the ninth Clovis resident and the seventh Buchanan High graduate to die in Iraq or Afghanistan.

"He believed in the values of the Army and in the mission of what he was doing in Afghanistan," David Piercy, 35, said of his brother.

Brian Piercy, who played drums in the Buchanan High marching band, loved to play piano and loved his Volkswagen Beetle, his brother said.

He attended Fresno Pacific University for two years before deciding to enlist in the Army about seven years ago.

Piercy and his wife, whom he met while attending Fresno Pacific, were married in December 2006, his brother said.

A month later he began his first tour of duty in Afghanistan. During that tour, he suffered only minor shrapnel injuries.

He lived with his wife just outside the North Carolina Army base where he was stationed.

"Brian was just an all-around great guy, friendly with everybody," David Piercy said.