2010 Year in Review: Amputee Infantryman yields not to superior odds (16 Dec 10)
January 6, 2011
FORT STEWART, Ga. - In this particular class of beginner riders is Staff Sgt. Brandon Wooldridge, an infantryman assigned to 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, who is familiar with overcoming immense odds. After losing his lower left leg in a firefight in Iraq in late 2004, then-Spc. Wooldridge won his lengthy battle to stay in the Army as an infantryman in 2006.
He continues the fight to live the life of an every-day Soldier.
"I have never ridden before," Staff Sgt. Wooldridge said at the course. "I had always wanted to ride. Lots of my friends back home ride, so now I thought was as good a time as any."
Staff Sergeant Wooldrige's eagerness to ride has raised some eyebrows.
Support for Staff Sgt. Wooldrige's new riding dream has not always been a smooth ride. One Family Member is, unsurprisingly, not as optimistic to the future Hog-rider's dream.
"My mom wasn't so happy," said Staff Sgt. Wooldridge said with a shrug. "But, what mother is'"