Posted on 02/24/2010 7:33:40 AM PST by SouthJrzReaganite18
It was back in October 2005 when U.S. Army Ranger Captain Chad Fleming was about to embark on a mission that required his unit to locate the second most sought-after terrorist in the Northern sector of Iraq.
It would be the final mission of his third deployment to the country -- just 18 hours from returning home to Alabama.
"A high-valued target had presented itself and popped on the radar, so myself and 18 other men went in to get him," Fleming, 36, told NHL.com. "We ended up getting into a fire fight and an ambush situation occurred."
The ensuing battle cost Fleming his left leg just below the knee.
"Two hand grenades and a gunshot wound is what ended up getting my leg," he said. "No one ended up losing their life on our mission, but one of my squad leaders (Sergeant First Class Joe Kapachzewski) lost his right leg below the knee."
Rather than transition out of the military after receiving his prosthetic leg, Fleming would deploy to Iraq three more times and lead his men into combat missions as the detachment commander of a special operations unit.
"The last thing I wanted to do was send my guys back overseas without me," Fleming said. "This might sound cliché, but this was my calling in life. This was what I always enjoyed doing. I love this country."
That's precisely the message Fleming drove home when he was first invited to speak to members of the United States Olympic hockey team during orientation camp in Chicago last August.
"You do it for the guy to your right and to your left," Fleming said. "That's really the driving force and that's how these players should view it as well."
(Excerpt) Read more at nhl.com ...
De Oppresso Liber Captain Fleming.
the mans spirit is humbling to mere mortals like me.
A couple days ago there was a posting about the dearth of “real men” in the US and the world at large. The author clearly has had no experience with “the band of brothers” in the US military.
THIS story would explain to her where the real men are made.
my son’s varsity hockey team is playing in their semi-final game of the championship this afternoon. i forwarded this article to my son’s coach, am hoping it will give him some inspiration for their pre-game peptalk today.
Best of luck to them!
thanks so much!
How’d they do????
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