(Photo Credit: The Chronicle)

By Libby Sander (article adapted from Ohio State University)

Matthew Reilly‘s roundabout journey to college took a painful, decisive turn after a nighttime crash in Iraq.

In 2008, six months into his first combat tour with the Army, Mr. Reilly and nine soldiers from his platoon were pursuing an insurgent when their armored fighting vehicle slammed into a roadblock. It was 2 o’clock in the morning, and fresh snow blanketed the ground. To avoid detection, the troops had been traveling without lights. Only the driver wore an infrared device to maneuver the hulking, eight-wheeled Stryker through the darkness. Read the rest of this entry →