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“I joined the military 04Nov04 as a Military Police officer. I trained on Fort Leonardwood in Missouri as part of training company B787. I graduated my training on 01Apr05 and was then stationed on Fort Lewis, WA where I became a PROUD Dragonslayer at the 170th MP Co.
On 15 May, I (along with a small group of other soldiers) deployed to Baghdad to meet up with our already deployed unit in Iraq. Once there I began working along side Iraqi Police and Iraqi Army, pulling security at check points and doing routine patrols to show a presence in Southern Baghdad in an area known to locals as “The Triangle of Death”.
On 24 Nov 05, we were tasked to investigate a mass grave of Iraqi casualties, but we would never arrive. On our way, a improvised explosive device would detonate beneath our vehicle, instantly killing my team leader and later killing my driver and the Iraqi police colonel in the back seat.
Myself and our interpreter were the only two to survive. I was med-evaced to Baghdad and then later Germany, and finally to Walter Reed. After 18 months in the hospital, I returned home to upstate NY, a double amputee in April of 07’. Since then I have lived up and down the east coast, going to school, doing things with Wounded Warrior Project and living life to it’s fullest in memory of my team leader SSG Steven Reynolds and my driver SPC Marc Delgado. RIP, you are forever missed.”
