The story of Arizona’s Charles Deibel–an Army Ranger and veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan–reveals how young people can accomplish a lot more than the media tells them they can.
From the Arizona Daily Star:
After completing a 12-mile march on an injured ankle as his final task in Army Ranger school, Charles Deibel knew there was nothing he couldn’t accomplish in life.
And now, as a University of Arizona senior, he says getting through college has been a walk in the park. He is preparing to apply to law schools on the East Coast.
He enlisted in the Army in 2008 as a 19-year-old and served four tours of duty in his four-year stint, one in Iraq and three in Afghanistan, earning a Purple Heart along the way in a firefight he prefers not to talk about.
“I was going to join right after high school, but I needed to do a little growing up,” said Deibel, now 27.
By the end of 2007, he was in a rut. His father told him his options were military or school, so he decided to scratch the public service itch and join the Army.
He says he didn’t join to gain respect or do something heroic, but that he didn’t like seeing people he didn’t know fighting for him and his family.
Deibel started in the infantry, but wanted to go further.
“I went to them and asked them who’s the best,” he said. “I told them I wanted to do that.”
Read the rest of the story here.
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