Our Latest American Hero #100

toddamotley
Originally uploaded by Randuwa

Represents the nearly 3,800 men and women of our armed services who've paid in their faithfulness to their duty with the ultimate price. He comes from a small and essentially rural community in Michigan; the same sort of place that I grew up in. I find the words of his former High School principal profound and deeply moving. They cause me to wonder yet again: How much more of this gratuitous and deceptive "war" are we to endure before someone steps up and speaks the truth? How many more extraordinary Americans will be sacrificed upon the altar of greed, huberous, obfuscation and incestuous largess before those responsible for this evil are called to task? Without further ado.....

Army Spc. Todd A. Motley, 23, of Clare, Mich.; assigned to the 6th Squadron, 9th U.S. Cavalry, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; died Sept. 14 in Baghdad, of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle during combat operations. Also killed were Staff Sgt. Michael L. Townes, Spc. Jonathan Rivadeneira and Pvt. Christopher M. McCloud.

"Fallen Soldier's High School Goal Was To Enlist In Army"

Todd Motley returned to his high school last year to tell students not to give up on their goals. He came back as more than a 2003 graduate of Pioneer High School. He returned as an Army specialist -- the sum of his ambition since first walking through the doors of the alternative high school in 2001.

Motley, 23, of Clare died Friday in Muqdadiyah, Iraq, when a bomb exploded near his vehicle during combat, the U.S. Department of Defense said Monday. Muqdadiyah is about 60 miles northeast of Baghdad.

Motley entered the Army in March 2005 and was assigned in August 2005 to the 6th Squadron, 9th U.S. Cavalry, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division at Ft. Hood in Texas.

"Todd was one of your once-in-a-lifetime kids -- everything you put in came back," Pioneer Principal Lori Enos said.

"We're all very empty right now. The impact of his death ... has surprised all of us. It makes the world very, very small."

Enos described Motley as creative, loyal and "outgoing but not obnoxious."

She said his character was evident the day she handed him his diploma and Quality Student Award -- an honor decided by the staff and given to only a few students at the school in Clare, about 130 miles northwest of Detroit.

"The face that I can see was a quiet sense of satisfaction," she said. "When you looked at his face, you knew he was proud of himself, but he was humble about it."

She also was impressed by the maturity with which he handled his relationship with his high school girlfriend, Karen, who became his wife.

"Karen and Todd had a very mature relationship -- it was like what you'd hope that adults would be more like," Enos said.