89rabbit
August 31st, 2005, 10:14 PM
Here is a really interesting piece on Paul Fischer a defensive lineman from Madison, SD.
http://www3.sdstate.edu/Athletics/NewsDetail55273.cfm?Id=46,4448
http://www3.sdstate.edu/ClassLibrary/Page/Images/Data/9122.jpg
Paul Fischer will forever remember 2004 as a year of change, both personally and as a student-athlete.
In the next-to-last game of the 2003 football season, Fischer and teammates were savoring a 42-22 win over Augustana. That evening a phone call prompted a uniform change that sent the junior defensive lineman halfway across the world to a different war game in Iraq.
He was told to report to his South Dakota Army National Guard unit in his hometown of Madison.
“Some of my buddies were already over there from a different unit so I knew it might be coming,” said Fischer. “It was exciting, but kind of unnerving, too, because you don’t know what you’re going to be facing.”
After two months of training in Fort Carson, Colo., the unit landed in Kuwait on Feb. 20, 2004. Two weeks later, the soldiers were running convoys over the hot and dusty trails of Iraq.
Fischer returned to the SDSU campus a year later on Feb. 21, 2005. Not only did he miss family, friends and nearly three semesters of classes, he also was absent for the entire 2004 football season and the Jackrabbits’ move from NCAA Division II to Division 1-AA.
Plenty of change for a 23-year-old, who joined the Army National Guard as a junior in high school and will have six years in this January. After avoiding trouble spots overseas, Fischer is doing what he does best, tackling enemy ball carriers and protecting the Jacks’ end zone.
“I’m so excited to be out there,” he said. “I left when we were still Division II. I’m really anxious about this season, not only getting back on the field again, but playing against Division I competition.” . . . . (read more)
http://www3.sdstate.edu/Athletics/NewsDetail55273.cfm?Id=46,4448
http://www3.sdstate.edu/ClassLibrary/Page/Images/Data/9122.jpg
Paul Fischer will forever remember 2004 as a year of change, both personally and as a student-athlete.
In the next-to-last game of the 2003 football season, Fischer and teammates were savoring a 42-22 win over Augustana. That evening a phone call prompted a uniform change that sent the junior defensive lineman halfway across the world to a different war game in Iraq.
He was told to report to his South Dakota Army National Guard unit in his hometown of Madison.
“Some of my buddies were already over there from a different unit so I knew it might be coming,” said Fischer. “It was exciting, but kind of unnerving, too, because you don’t know what you’re going to be facing.”
After two months of training in Fort Carson, Colo., the unit landed in Kuwait on Feb. 20, 2004. Two weeks later, the soldiers were running convoys over the hot and dusty trails of Iraq.
Fischer returned to the SDSU campus a year later on Feb. 21, 2005. Not only did he miss family, friends and nearly three semesters of classes, he also was absent for the entire 2004 football season and the Jackrabbits’ move from NCAA Division II to Division 1-AA.
Plenty of change for a 23-year-old, who joined the Army National Guard as a junior in high school and will have six years in this January. After avoiding trouble spots overseas, Fischer is doing what he does best, tackling enemy ball carriers and protecting the Jacks’ end zone.
“I’m so excited to be out there,” he said. “I left when we were still Division II. I’m really anxious about this season, not only getting back on the field again, but playing against Division I competition.” . . . . (read more)