Tiger Hero

Sometimes you just never know what you're going to find when you start surfing the net looking for something to blog about. I ran across this from Tiger Weekly, an LSU paper. It is a nice column, highlighting an LSU grad that went and fought in Iraq.

So why did it catch my eye? Well, the soldier that is featured was a close friend of mine during my college days. I haven't talked to him in more than 10 years. This soldier and friend was always deeply religious and no one loves their country more.

Of course, it still wasn’t easy in Iraq. Missions were much harder than in Desert Storm and Patrick had to take over as platoon sergeant.

“I was like their mom,” he said. “I had to make sure they were fed, that they were clothed, and in combat, I was in charge of their lives. Selecting people to go on missions was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do because I didn’t know if they’d come back or not.”

Patrick was injured four months into his station in Iraq. He was sent home 5 months earlier than the rest of his unit.

That didn’t discourage him. He said he would go again in a heartbeat.

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift—that’s why we call it the present,” he said. “That’s my philosophy.”

I pray he was not severly injured.