pattiep's Blog

Adam Pyrka gets annoyed when Americans don't remove their hats when the national anthem plays. He also get frustrated when he hears criticism of the Iraq war.

But he doesn't say anything. After all, it's a liberty that Pyrka, a Marine, fought to defend during his seven-month tour in Iraq.

"Everybody is entitled to their opinion," Pyrka said. "If someone wants to speak their mind, who am I to judge what they are going to say?"

He usually walks away. "I believe what I did was right ... but that's their right (to voice their opinion), it's the right of living in the United States."

Pyrka enlisted in the Marines shortly after graduating from Jackson High School in 2001. His unit, the 1st Battalion 8th Marines, arrived in Iraq in July 2004. Four months later, he was part of the monthlong mission to take back the insurgent stronghold in Fallujah.

"We fought street to street, house to house, room to room," Pyrka said.

His unit was ambushed the first night of the battle; "We walked right into them. They were waiting for us."

The firefight lasted 15 minutes. Grenade shrapnel grazed Pyrka's left cheek.

"Everything seemed so surreal to me at the time," Pyrka said. "Nothing could compare to what was going on ... . It was very intense."

He received his Purple Heart on Nov. 9, 2004, in Fallujah.

Coming home in June 2005, Pyrka asked for no help from counselors, medical professionals or job searchers. He hasn't had the nightmares, depression or flashbacks he's heard other veterans struggling with.

Now 25, Pyrka recently finished the six-month-long Ohio Peace Officers Training Academy and is working for local construction companies until he gets an offer from a local police department.

The only challenging adjustment he's had to make, Pyrka said, was "going from being told what to do with a very limited free time ... to having your own choice to what you want to do."

But that's part of living "in the best country in the world," he added.



ADAM PYRKA

Age: 25

Service Branch: 1st Battalion 8th Marines.

Rank: Corporal

Location in Iraq: Fallujah

Served: June 10, 2001 to June 10, 2005

Hometown: Jackson Township

High School: 2001 Jackson High School graduate 

Would anyone just love to have a son or brother with such a proud outlook on life?