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<DIV>Nice story, Tom. Thanks for sharing it.</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=thansen@moscow.com href="mailto:thansen@moscow.com">Tom Hansen</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, December 19, 2004 8:49
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] Rudy with a
Bullet</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV class=Section1>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Copied and pasted below is Rudy
with a Bullet from Rick Reillys Life of Reilly column in Fridays
(December 17, 2004) Sports Illustrated. It, most deservedly, gives us
reason to pause and reflect on the selflessness of those stout-hearted
individuals who place themselves in harms way. Pro
patria.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">He's just a walk-on. Number 39 in
your program, zero in your heart. Means nothing to you. Just
another sadly spotless jersey on the sideline. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">So how is it that Josh Amstutz is
the toughest, bravest and most inspirational member of Texas A&M's
football team? <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Well, look at his right leg. There
are two scars left by a bullet that passed through it almost two years ago, a
gift from an Iraqi sniper. How he runs on it as well as he does is anybody's
guess. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Look at his jaw. It was stern and
square enough for the Marine honor guard that flanked President Clinton during
ceremonial events at the White House and led George W. Bush down <st1:Street
w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Pennsylvania
Avenue</st1:address></st1:Street> on Inauguration Day.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Look at his eyes. They're
practically Aggie maroon-and-white. What other 23-year-old Purple Heart winner
would volunteer as scout-team meat five days a week just so he can stand on
the sidelines on Saturdays in the fall yelping, "Gig 'em Aggies"?
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">"I can't believe I'm on the team,"
says Amstutz, an A&M sophomore with freshman eligibility. "One practice it
was pretty hot and everybody was complaining. But I thought to myself, Hey,
this isn't bad. It beats being in 120 degrees in <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Iraq</st1:place></st1:country-region> in a
hazardous chemical protective suit. And at least nobody's shooting at me."
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">You want to bitch about the
training table? There were days when all he had to eat was one dried meal.
"The scary part," he says, "was we got so hungry, we started liking it." In
fact, when he was recuperating in the hospital after he got shot, a doctor saw
him take a cookie off his lunch tray and hide it under his pillow.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">"What are you doing?" the doctor
asked. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">"Saving food for later, sir,"
Amstutz admitted. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">"Son," said the doctor, "you don't
have to do that anymore." <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">You want to rag about the road
hotel? This is a guy who dug a hole for his bed every night, "as deep as you
could get it before you fell asleep." And every time praying you weren't
digging your own grave. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">You want to whine about the
pressure of big-time college football? Amstutz had to kill people. "All my
teammates ask me that question, but it's not something I want to talk about,"
he says. But he carried a machine gun and an M-16 with a grenade launcher, and
concedes that he did kill other men. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Through it all, he never gave up
his football dream. Gave up? Hell, it's what kept him going.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">A tight end at Jasper (Ind.) High,
catching passes from eventual LSU standout Matt Mauck, he actually had two
goals: become a Marine and play college football. How could he have known that
one wish would nearly wipe out the other? <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Amstutz reported to boot camp
three days after he graduated from Jasper in 1999, and he became such a dogged
Marine -- he could stand for hours and hours without so much as twitching --
that he was assigned to the White House eight weeks out of camp. "The only bad
thing about the White House is the crazy squirrels there," he says. "They jump
around in the trees, and the branches slap you in the face and you can't do a
thing about it." <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">While in D.C., he met Fox TV
intern and Texas A&M alum Jessica Fontenot and eventually married her. On
a trip out West with Fontenot in November 2001, Amstutz witnessed one of the
great spectacles in college football: a Texas A&M game in <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">College Station</st1:place></st1:City>. "I knew
right then I wanted to play for the Aggies," he says.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">But 9/11 made him itch to fight.
Before being shipped out to the <st1:place w:st="on">Middle East</st1:place>,
Amstutz said goodbye to his father-in-law, who was dying of cancer. "I won't
be here when you get back," Jessica's dad said. "So come home and take care of
my little girl." <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">That suddenly looked doubtful on
April 8, 2003, when Amstutz's unit was checking out a tip that there was a
weapons cache in a school. "Bullets started whizzing by like in Saving Private
Ryan," he remembers. One went clean through his leg, just above the knee. He
dragged himself to a medic, who told him he was lucky: The bullet got only
muscle. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Yet he wouldn't give up his dream
of playing football. For a year he put all his Marine determination into
rehabbing that leg and added 40 pounds to his post-Iraq weight of 155. Having
served his four years of active duty, he enrolled in a junior college in the
fall of '03, transferred to A&M this year and in August was one of about
60 students to try out for a half dozen walk-on spots. He made the team as a
safety -- Rudy with a bullet. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">"When I first met him, he told me,
'It's an honor to be in the same locker room with you,'" says the Aggies'
NFL-bound wide receiver, Terrence Murphy. "But now that I know his story, I
think the same exact thing about him." <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Amstutz hasn't been in a game yet,
but if he could get in for just one play, "I'd want to cover a kickoff. That's
my dream. I wouldn't want any big glory thing. Just one kickoff."
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">On New Year's Day the Aggies play
<st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Tennessee</st1:place></st1:State> at
the Cotton Bowl. Hey, coach Dennis Franchione, can't you put him in?
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">After all, he went in for
you.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<P>
<HR>
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