TJ aka Teej
01-14-2007, 23:58
http://news.bostonherald.com/columnists/view.bg?articleid=177042&srvc=home
(this is just a snippet of the news story, follow link for more)
Son’s rugged trail led to Iraq
Bryan Beckwith is like a lot of soldiers we only occasionally hear about - the ones who enlisted in midlife, after the invasion of Iraq. His reasons are complex, and he hasn’t talked much about it. He didn’t drape himself in the flag. He discussed it with his wife for a year, and then told his family.
“He said he was able to, so he should,” said his wife, Leslie, at home with their 10-month-old son, John Charles, named after his grandfathers. “He wouldn’t use the word ‘patriotic,’ but that was what he was trying to say.”
A graduate of New Hampshire’s Plymouth State College, Bryan had figured out in short order that he didn’t like office life. He spent the late 1990s landscaping and working at ski areas to support his new passion - a rugged life.
He hiked the Appalachian Trail and met Leslie, a Delta flight attendant, on the way.
Both of them hiked it again, and then the Pacific Crest Trail. Sept. 11 happened, and then the invasion of Iraq. Bryan had met some old soldiers on the trail who talked about the soldier’s life. He remembered his own dream of being one.
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Good luck, and many blessings to him on the trail he's following now.
(this is just a snippet of the news story, follow link for more)
Son’s rugged trail led to Iraq
Bryan Beckwith is like a lot of soldiers we only occasionally hear about - the ones who enlisted in midlife, after the invasion of Iraq. His reasons are complex, and he hasn’t talked much about it. He didn’t drape himself in the flag. He discussed it with his wife for a year, and then told his family.
“He said he was able to, so he should,” said his wife, Leslie, at home with their 10-month-old son, John Charles, named after his grandfathers. “He wouldn’t use the word ‘patriotic,’ but that was what he was trying to say.”
A graduate of New Hampshire’s Plymouth State College, Bryan had figured out in short order that he didn’t like office life. He spent the late 1990s landscaping and working at ski areas to support his new passion - a rugged life.
He hiked the Appalachian Trail and met Leslie, a Delta flight attendant, on the way.
Both of them hiked it again, and then the Pacific Crest Trail. Sept. 11 happened, and then the invasion of Iraq. Bryan had met some old soldiers on the trail who talked about the soldier’s life. He remembered his own dream of being one.
----
Good luck, and many blessings to him on the trail he's following now.