from Jeff Miller of the OC Register,

The perspective is a remarkable one, one that each time humbles, reassures and, especially today, staggers.

The perspective of a warrior, of a fighter, of a hero.

The perspective of a solider.

We’d talked Wednesday at Honda Center, before the Ducks-Oilers game, on a night when the military would be honored for Veterans Day. And, once again, I was astounded by the unrelenting commitment of someone willing to give their final breath.

Wade Scott told me about the day in 2011 when, during a firefight in Afghanistan, he was shot multiple times, four bullets ripping into his side and another through his wrist, leaving his left hand looking like “hamburger with fingers sticking out of it.”

Three more rounds struck him in the chest, the Army master sergeant able to tell the story now only because of the body armor that absorbed the Taliban’s worst.

Then, Scott, a veteran of 14 years of service, said this:

“That could have happened at any other time during any other deployment. A lot of things much worse happen to people all the time. It was just my day and I got lucky.

“But, yeah, I’d do it again tomorrow. That’s what our job is. It’s a passion. People tend to fall in where their passion lies. It’s part of who I am.”

We had met to discuss Defending the Blue Line, a nonprofit that assists military children interested in ice hockey.

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