Private Eleanor Dlugosz, 19, from Swanmore, near Fareham, died in a bomb blast in Iraq along with three colleagues.
Her distraught mother, Sally Veck, a hotel manager, said her 'beautiful' teenage daughter had always dreamed of joining the army and had been desperate to help people in the war-torn country.
The 41-year-old sobbed as she said: 'She was my star. She loved her job and she was my action girl.
'Nothing could have stopped her from serving her country. She was doing exactly what she wanted and she had always dreamed of joining the army.
'She was totally selfless and loved being active, doing what she could to help other people. She was very proud of what she was doing in Iraq.'
After she died, photographs showed Iraqi insurgents holding up her helmet in glee.
Her mother said: 'There are lots of people around the world who need our help. If it's our job to help them, then that's what we should do.
'There are plenty of innocent people in Iraq and it was my little girl's job to go out there and help them, not the people we saw on television holding up her helmet.'
Pte Dlugosz, who was known to her friends as 'Ella' or 'DZ', grew up in Swanmore with her brother, Andrew, 16, where she attended primary school.
She had a passion for horse-riding and won several awards in show- jumping, hunting and carriage-driving.
Her mother said Eleanor was ambitious, wanting to work her way up in the army, but had also hoped one day to join the civilian police.
She said the 19-year-old was adored by everyone who knew her and had always excelled, achieving the highest standard at college and in her army preparation course, and scoring the best rifle shot when she did her basic training in Winchester, beating all the boys.
Eleanor's grandmother, Mary Veck, 68, of Forest Road, Southampton, described her as a 'wonderful, wonderful girl'.
She said: 'Eleanor was very special and loved to help others. That's what she hoped to do out there.'
She added: 'She was well aware of the dangers but she was proud of what she was doing out there.'
Pte Dlugosz, of the Royal Medical Corps, was first sent to Iraq in November last year.
In January she returned to the UK in order to complete her Class 1 Medics Course and then went back last month, providing medical support to a Warrior patrol.
Pte Dlugosz was the second person from the area to have been killed in Iraq.
In January 2005, Acting Lance Corporal Steven Jones, 25, from Fareham, was one of 10 personnel to be killed when an RAF Hercules crashed 30 kilometres north-west of Baghdad.