He served the first four years of his career in the communications field. In 2004, Kuglics was selected to cross-train into the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. After graduating from the AFOSI Academy, he was assigned to Detachment 101 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
Kuglics volunteered for a deployment to Iraq in 2007 and was assigned to Air Force Office of Special Investigations Expeditionary Detachment 2410 at Kirkuk Regional Air Base.
“The truth is, Kuglics wasn’t supposed to be on that deployment,” retired Maj. Gen. Warren Berry, then-AFMC vice commander, said at a memorial unveiling ceremony in 2016. “He offered to take the place of an agent who had just had a child. So Matt raised his hand and volunteered to go on this deployment in lieu of the agent who was in the bucket. And if you think about service before self, I don’t think that there is a better example.”
On June 5, 2007, he was driving the lead vehicle in a convoy when a roadside bomb detonated, killing Kuglics instantly. He was 25.
The AFOSI special agent was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Air Force Commendation Medal and Air Force Combat Action Medal.
On Oct. 23, 2009, Wright-Patt held a street-dedication ceremony in honor of Kuglics and renamed Communications Boulevard to Kuglics Boulevard.
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