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that, to that effect, and put your tail between your legs?
Thats how I feel about it, he said. I mean, somebody has
to pay the consequences. We all do so why dont they?
Troy did three tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq, doling
out those consequences.
As a man who knew what he was getting himself into, the
insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq threw everything but
the kitchen sink at him. We have all heard or read news
reports of military convoy casualties that came about as
a result of contact with an IED, or Improvised Explosive
Device. Many gruesome images have been beamed into
our homes, showing what happens to soldiers when the
armored vehicle they are riding in encounters one of these
roadside bombs. Troy became more than just a little familiar with them in his time in the sandbox.
I lost a lot of buddies, he said. I got blown up six times.
Just so you know that what you just read is not a misprint,
allow me to make it clearTroy Shoemaker survived six - a
half dozen - explosive encounters with IEDs. I was armor.
I spent five years on a Bradley; my first two tours were
in an armored vehicle. He went straight from Kuwait to
Baghdad, first providing for security at the Baghdad Airport, then providing short range air defense with Stinger
missiles guided by AWACS surveillance planes and C-130
gunships. Since there was no real need for air defense, his
group of armored and tracked vehicles were assigned other
duties transportation of the media, transportation and
security for high-ranking officials and transportation of
prisoners. They were also given another task, that of route
clearance duties looking for IEDs. Sometimes, the IEDs
found them before they could find the IEDs. We spent
fourteen months doing that before I was sent back to Germany, he said.
When I got back to Germany, Troy continued, my
unit was being deactivated, so I came down on orders for
the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment (ACR) which at that
time was at Fort Carson, Colorado. I got to Fort Carson,
and immediately came down on orders to go back to Iraq.
We went back over to South Baghdad and did all kinds of
missions there. That year, 2005, the Third ACR was tasked
with the biggest mission of 2005, and they moved us to Tal
Afar.
Under the command of then Colonel H. R. McMaster
(now Lieutenant General), the Third ACR, supported by
units of the New Iraqi Army, was tasked with removing a
strong Al Qaeda presence from the city of Tal Afar. What
awaited Troy and the Third ACR was street to street and
house to house fighting. Its a pretty big city, Troy said.
Probably about the size of Toledo.
Of the battle, Troy said, Seeing as how we were cavalry, we were self-contained we were a self-sustaining
unit. We had the engineers come in, and they built a berm
around the city. We dropped leaflets from airplanes and
helicopters, saying that we were allowing 72 hours for everybody to leave the city. Nobody could come in, but anybody could leave. After 72 hours, anybody left was fair
game. We spent 42 days going through every building, every room, every hut everything in the entire city. That
was my toughest tour OIF-III (Operation Iraqi Freedom).
We lost a couple guys in my platoon during that mission. It
was a rough tour. It was that tour that I was blown up six
times, and that last one really rattled my brain. It was two
155 mm artillery shells that blew us up that last time. To
this day, my buddy still has an open wound in his stomach
from being blown up in a HUMVEE. The Battle of Tal Afar
was costly, but it was a decisive victory for Colonel McMaster and the Third ACR.
General Robert E. Lee had another quote that has echoed
through time. Watching Union General Ambrose Burnside
ordering suicidal frontal assaults on the entrenched positions of General James B. Longstreet on Maryes Heights
at the Battle of Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862, Lee
said to Longstreet, It is well that war is so terrible, otherwise we should grow too fond of it. Of the terrors of war,
Troy is more than familiar. When you take somebodys
life, you see that face for the rest of your life, he said with
downturned eyes. Ive seen buses loaded with Iraqi soldiers being blown up, and soldiers running off the buses
burned up and on fire. Ive cleaned up the body parts. Ive
loaded trucks with bodies, torsos, arms, legs. Ive got pictures of some really gruesome (expletive). It really went
down. I know what I did. Ive got pictures to remind me of
what I did. Theyre not pretty pictures.
Sent back to Fort Carson, Troy cross trained in long-
PHOTO PROVIDED
TAL AFAR ... Troy and the soldiers of the Third ACR
kicked the Al Qaeda insurgents to the curb in the biggest
campaign of 2005.
419-485-3147 Montpelier
Montpelier OH,
43543
419-485-3147
OH,
43543
www.winzelerstamping.com
www.winzelerstamping.com
We salute
our
We saluteveterans.
our veterans.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Richard C Wright
Richard C Wright
Financial Advisor
Financial Advisor
.
Melissa R Stockman
Financial Advisor
Member SIPC
419-272-2245
FULTON COUNTY VETERANS HALL OF FAME PRESENTATION ... From left to right
Floyd Franks, Fulton County Veteran Service Commissioner, Ed Roth, Fulton County Veteran Service Commissioner, DeFord R. Schwall WWII Army Veteran, receiving
Ohio Hall of Fame recognition, Timothy Gorrell, ODVS Director, Honorable Judge
Barber, and Paul Barnaby, Fulton County Commissioner.
PHOTO PROVIDED
SOUTH BAGHDAD - OIF-III ... Troy and his platoon dismount squad get ready to board
a Blackhawk helicopter.
CLAY MEADOWS
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Equipment
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APARTMENTS
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CALL 419-237-2240
Aerie 2246
8135 St Rt 108
Wauseon, OH 43567
419-298-2566
With Many
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419-335-1177
Carl W. Bellmann
Owner
Miki Moon
Manager
Senior Products
Advantage Plans
RX Drug Plans
Supplement Plans
NN METAL
STAMPINGS, INC.
419.485.4046
MONTPELIER
nixon construction
C.d.M. Flags
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LAW OFFICES OF
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124 N. FULTON STREET WAUSEON, OH 43567
(419) 337-5065
TERRY J. KAPER
THOMAS A. MCWATTERS
JAN H. STAMM
KEVIN J. WHITLOCK
JEFFREY L. ROBINSON
PETER D. SHORT
PHOTO PROVIDED
NORTHWEST RECYCLING
BUYERS OF SCRAP METALS
419-636-5215 BRYAN, OH
12475 County Road H
www.northwestrecycling.com
OPEN: Mon - Fri 8 am - 4 pm, Sat 8 am - 12 pm
SPROCKET &
GEAR, INC.
350 S. Airport Rd.
Montpelier, OH
(419) 335-4511
e-mail: merkane@midohio.twcbc.com
www.midwestcommunity.org
Winter Special
Cooling
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Air Filter
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Phone: 419-599-5180
Fax: 419-592-5180
Email:customag@bright.net
Tracy Harding
Owner / Technician
In honor of
those who have served
419-630-0030
6755 State Route 15
Bryan, Ohio 43506
10% OFF
west unity
american legion post 669
143 N. Michigan,
Edgerton
419-298-0034
Thank
you
Gain
financial
to those with
who
freedom
served.
GenFed
121 S Union St
(419) 636-1053
www.edonstatebank.com
Mike Aeschliman
(419) 445-5206
FAX (419) 445-4275
SW mills inc.
ALFALFA
Gearig All-Star
Insurance Agency Inc.
1239 East Main Street
Montpelier, Ohio 43543
419-485-5112
THE VILLAGE REPORTER - VETERANS DAY TRIBUTE - 5
HOMIERS MONUMENTAL
Honoring all
who served.
Thank you for
protecting
our Freedom.
VETERANS DAY
NOVEMBER 11, 2014
The image is part of the Butler Indiana Veterans Memorial
Archbold: 221 N. Defiance 419-446-2400
Defiance: St. Rt. 66 North 419-784-3300
930 S. Clinton St. ~ Design Studio
www.homiersmonumental.com
PHOTO PROVIDED
HASCH BODY
DUPONT
SHOP, INC.
Rex H
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1302 E You
Hi h Veterans!
St B
Thank
ROLL-OFF SERVICE
WASTE-HANDLING RECYCLING
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E & H AUTO
CLINIC INC.
419.335.6771
Shop at:
CarpetMart
Tile Vinyl Carpet Laminate
1020 S. Main St.
Bryan, OH 43506
Williams County
Veterans Service Office
Mary C. Oliver - Director/CVSO
www.
1425 E. High St.
Bryan, Ohio 43506
6 - THE VILLAGE REPORTER - VETERANS DAY TRIBUTE
Roger Krauss
419-636-4200
419-636-8812
619-636-7429
wmsctyvo@bright.net
Tyler Harris-Gorsuch The Hilltop Cadet That Became A United States Marine
TWO YEARS ... In just two years, Tyler has gone from Hilltop Cadet, to US Marine, to Ooh-Rahs on an AAV.
By: Timothy Kays
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
It is a departure from
normal to put a service
member who has yet to be
deployed in these pages.
It is also a departure from
normal for the reporter
to interject anything into
these tributes. That being
said, as the Sports Editor for the newspaper that
you are now reading, I have
come to know and become
close to hundreds of kids
in my line of work. Each
and every one of them is
special to me in his or her
own way. Some have endured and risen above adversities that would have
made adults two and three
times their age crumple
like wet cardboard. One of
those kids I met when he
was a sophomore. That was
thentoday he is a member
of the United States Marine
Corps. The young man I am
speaking of is Tyler HarrisGorsuch.
He is originally from
West Unity, Ohio, and
graduated
from
Hilltop
High School as a part of the
Class of 2012. The son of
Jeremy and Amy Gorsuch,
he has four siblingsAli,
Brayden, Lexi and Mckenzie. Tyler is currently stationed at Camp Lejeune,
North Carolina.
There are many things
that are well known about
Tyler. As a senior wideout
for the Cadet football team,
He made the highlight reel
on Big Board Friday Night
by hauling in a long touchdown pass from quarterback Tyler Shipman, resulting in what was referred
to on television as a Tyler
to Tyler touchdown connection.
What may not be so obvious about Tyler is his loyalty and dedication qualities that were well known
to his high school friends,
and now a part of his service credo, Semper Fidelis.
When his closest friend,
Kellen Keiser of Fayette,
was diagnosed with the
leukemia that eventually
claimed his life, Tyler went
out of his way to show the
world that he suited up for
Hilltop under the Friday
night lights, but he played
for Kellen. Somewhere on
his uniform, be it a wristband, a tape-up, or even his
cleats, Tyler had Kellens
name written and he had
several of his teammates
doing the same thing. Tyler
and Kellen were inseparable until the end, and even
then he found ways around
and through his broken
heart to honor his friend.
If you ever went to a Fayette hoops game when Hilltop was in town, you saw a
virtual sea of orange, the official color of juvenile leukemia. Sure, the home crowd
was bedecked in orange in
honor of Tylers best bud
but the Hilltop fans also put
aside their Red and White
to also dress in orange.
That was no coincidence
that was the work of Tyler Harris-Gorsuch. Before
he ever took the oath, this
kid was showing the world
that he already exuded that
which is Semper Fi Always Faithful.
What then made Tyler decide to take up the
call of his Uncle Sam? He
answered by saying, I de-
20/20
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Plastics, LTD
Ronald E. Ernsberger
PRESIDENT
14620 Selwyn Drive - Holiday City, Ohio
419-485-2020
Cell: 419-770-2020
rernsberger@2020cmp.com
PHOTO PROVIDED
WOOLACE
ELECTRIC
Commercial,Industrial,andResidential
419-428-3161
01978
Co Rd 22A Stryker, OH 43557
(419) 428-3161
www.woolace.com
WE SALUTE
OUR TROOPS
& VETERANS