I’ve always felt that Thanksgiving was the most underrated of all the Holidays. It’s my favorite and always has been. Part of that is just that Wrestling season began wen the holiday was over, and so it was the holiday I looked forward to the entire year. But beyond that, I think the story of Thanksgiving, and the intent of the holiday is the most important. Not to take away from the various religious holidays, but as an Agnostic, they just don’t quite do it for me as much.
We used to get together as a family for Thanksgiving. And while everyone gorged on food, I enjoyed a big bowl of ice cubes, or some celery. But the family was together, and that was always nice. I’m the resident Sniper sensitive guy, and so that stuff means a lot to me.
And then I read this story. And this year, this is what I am thankful for. Men like this specialist, and the hundreds of thousands like him for whom Duty, Honor, Country are more mantra than words.
An American soldier who was seriously wounded during a bomb attack in Iraq on Nov. 13 re-enlisted just hours after the ambush, telling Army officers he still had a job to do, the Army reported Monday.Spc. Christopher Hoyt, an infantryman from California with the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, based out of Fort Lewis, Wash., was injured after an improvised explosive device — or IED — exploded near him while he was out on a foot patrol near Zaganiyah, Iraq.
Two of Hoyt’s fellow soldiers were killed in the attack. Hoyt was rushed to the emergency room at Logistics Support Area Anaconda where he was treated for cuts to his legs and body.
It was there, after having witnessed the deaths of his comrades, that Hoyt decided to re-enlist for four more years.
“He said he wasn’t finished,” Hoyt’s battalion commander Lt. Col. Mark Landes said.
Landes conducted the re-enlistment himself. “He said, ‘I still have a job to do.’ “
Command Sgt. Maj. John Troxell, the brigade’s top non-commissioned officer, who was also present during Hoyt’s re-enlistment at Anaconda, said Hoyt was the epitome of what a soldier should be.
Military is broken my aching ass. It’s men like these who toil and sweat so that we can enjoy the Democracy that elects people like we have who constantly tell the men that what they are doing is impossible.
Impossible or not, these men are doing it. Kindly stay the hell out of the way and let them do it.
As the antithesis to your “resident Sniper sensitive guy” persona, even I wholeheartedly join you on this one. Many thanks for SPC Hoyt and every soldier like him.