Soldier re-enlists hours after IED injury

Photo By Staff Sgt. Russell Bassett | Lt. Col. Mark Landes, commander, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division from Fort Lewis, Wash., shakes hands with Spc. Christopher Hoyt, an infantryman with 2-23rd Inf., during Hoyt's re-enlistment ceremony, Nov. 13, in an Army hospital at Logistical Support Area Anaconda, Iraq. Hoyt was injured when an improvised explosive device exploded near him while on patrol near Zaganiyah, Iraq.  

BAQUBAH, IRAQ

11.19.2007

Story by Staff Sgt. Russell Bassett 

4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division

Multi-National Division – North PAO
By Staff Sgt. Russell Bassett, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division PAO

FORWARD OPERATING BASE WARHORSE, Iraq – A U.S. Soldier re-enlisted in the Army just hours after being seriously wounded in an improvised explosive attack near Zaganiyah, Iraq, Nov. 13.

Spc. Christopher Hoyt, an infantryman with 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division from Fort Lewis, Wash., suffered severe laceration to his legs and torso when an IED went off near him while conducting a dismounted patrol. Two of his fellow Soldiers were killed in the attack.

Hoyt was rushed to the emergency room at Logistical Support Area Anaconda, where he decided to re-enlist for four more years in the Army.

"He said he wasn't finished," said Hoyt's battalion commander Lt. Col. Mark Landes, who re-enlisted the Soldier. "He said, 'I still have a job to do.' I've never seen the like."

Command Sgt. Maj. John Troxell, the brigade's top non-commissioned officer, was also on hand for Hoyt's re-enlistment.

"It takes a person of very strong character to go through an incident where another Soldier five feet away was killed and he was severally wounded and still say 'I believe in what we are doing and I want to stay on the team. I want to support the United States Army and my country.'

"Spc. Hoyt is the epitome of what a Soldier should be," Troxell continued. "He is a model for what all men and women should be, and that is very patriotic and very selfless."

Hoyt, whose hometown is Clemente, Calif., is currently recovering in an Army hospital in Germany.

• Date Taken: 11.19.2007
• Date Posted: 11.19.2007 11:47
• Story ID: 14021
• Location: BAQUBAH, IQ