Duty

[unixronin]

This is about a soldier.  We’ll call him Steve.  He was from Scottsdale, Arizona.

Steve joined the US Army at 17, and served in several theaters before returning to civilian life, where he earned a Ph.D in psychology from the University of Delaware and then went on to teach in California.  It seems civilian life didn’t sit well with him after 9/11, though, because after his wife died, he re-enlisted in 2007, and went first to Afghanistan then to Iraq.  It was in Iraq that he died on May 10 while training Iraqi troops, when his vehicle was hit with an IED.

But this isn’t just another soldier-killed-in-Iraq story.

You see, Steve Hutchison’s first enlistment was in 1966, and his first term of service began with two tours in Vietnam.  He was 58 when he re-upped in 2007 after retiring twice — once from the Army, once from teaching — and 60 when he was killed in Iraq six weeks ago.

That, friends, is dedication to duty.

Comments

[rbos.livejournal.com]

That's pretty humbling. Very cool.

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

This is the kind of thing I think of when I think that the military can be a vocation.

[lebo-superman.livejournal.com]

A man after my own heart. I'm glad he was able to return to the army - they wouldn't take me back in. And they need me, too - I'm a trained medic.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

*hand salute*