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    Soldier re-enlists hours after IED injury

    Soldier re-enlists hours after IED injury

    Photo By Staff Sgt. Russell Bassett | Lt. Col. Mark Landes, commander, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 4th Stryker...... read more read more

    Multi-National Division – North PAO
    By Staff Sgt. Russell Bassett, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division PAO

    FORWARD OPERATING BASE WARHORSE, Iraq – A U.S. Soldier re-enlisted in the Army just hours after being seriously wounded in an improvised explosive attack near Zaganiyah, Iraq, Nov. 13.

    Spc. Christopher Hoyt, an infantryman with 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division from Fort Lewis, Wash., suffered severe laceration to his legs and torso when an IED went off near him while conducting a dismounted patrol. Two of his fellow Soldiers were killed in the attack.

    Hoyt was rushed to the emergency room at Logistical Support Area Anaconda, where he decided to re-enlist for four more years in the Army.

    "He said he wasn't finished," said Hoyt's battalion commander Lt. Col. Mark Landes, who re-enlisted the Soldier. "He said, 'I still have a job to do.' I've never seen the like."

    Command Sgt. Maj. John Troxell, the brigade's top non-commissioned officer, was also on hand for Hoyt's re-enlistment.

    "It takes a person of very strong character to go through an incident where another Soldier five feet away was killed and he was severally wounded and still say 'I believe in what we are doing and I want to stay on the team. I want to support the United States Army and my country.'

    "Spc. Hoyt is the epitome of what a Soldier should be," Troxell continued. "He is a model for what all men and women should be, and that is very patriotic and very selfless."

    Hoyt, whose hometown is Clemente, Calif., is currently recovering in an Army hospital in Germany.

    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 11.19.2007
    Date Posted: 11.19.2007 11:47
    Story ID: 14021
    Location: BAQUBAH, IQ

    Web Views: 1,065
    Downloads: 920

    PUBLIC DOMAIN