Eric O'Hara had been home from Iraq for only a month

Heidi Montag is speaking to US Weekly after receiving the tragic news Thursday that her step brother died.

Eric O'Hara, 24, was working on the roof of the Steamboat Grand Resort Hotel in Steamboat, Colo., when a piece of ice broke loose and he fell off the building, usmagazine.com reports. He had been home for a month after serving as a member of the 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq and Afghanistan over three years.

"I just loved him more than anything," Montag tells usmagazine.com. "He couldn't wait to meet Spencer."

"He was very much a brother to me," she said. "He called me his sister, not his stepsister. He was always like, 'I love you! I have to meet Spencer and make sure he's cool to you!' Just like a brother."

Montag told US that O'Hara was very patriotic. "He just really wanted to go there and help and do all that he could for his country. He felt like it was his duty."