A Return to Active Duty Is the Light in the Distance ; Freddy Meyers Travels the Long Road of Recovery with a Soldier's Determination.

Summary

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Aug. 3, 2007

Family and friends erupt into applause, some choking back tears, as Freddy Meyers walks on his own through the terminal of Dayton International Airport.

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A Return to Active Duty Is the Light in the Distance ; Freddy Meyers Travels the Long Road of Recovery with a Soldier's Determination.

He is wearing protective headgear resembling the helmet of his beloved Ohio State Buckeyes. It's not the statement of a crazed fan; it's an essential protection for a portion of his skull that has been removed because of his traumatic brain injury.

Meyers has come so far since May 3, that day in Kirkuk when a sniper shattered the 21-yearold soldier's life with one bullet.

After months of pain and frustration, life has finally turned sweet.

Someone has scored the former linebacker from Greenville High School tickets to the Bucks' Sept. 1 home opener against Youngstown State. Coach Jim Tressel has even mailed an autographed photo.

But Meyers wouldn't be able to make the game. At 6 a.m. on Aug. 22, his wife, Jessie, takes a call from her best friend, Mandy Bouffard. "He's gone?" Jessie cries out. A Black Hawk helicopter has gone down in Iraq. There are no survivors. Meyers knows eight of the 14 soldiers on board. One of them is Mandy's husband, Jeremy Bouffard, a friend who served in Meyers' infantry uni...

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