There's a great article in The Daily Bulletin about my flatmate, Scott Yingling CMC '11 and his brother, Eric Yingling CMC '12, who are playing their last season of football together. In the article you learn how bad ass the Yinglings, Eric, especially, are:
For a while it looked like both might opt for military service. Scott graduated from high school in 2005 and was recruited heavily by the Naval Academy. He spent a year at a naval prep school, then another in a trade school before deciding it wasn't for him.
Eric graduated high school in 2004 and was already into his military career, something he hasn't ruled out going back to when his education at CMS is finished. He first thought about the military his junior year and was leaning more toward the Army at that time. He also talked with the Marines. When that branch called him back a year later, he decided that was the path to take.
"It seemed like the right timing," he said. "I was looking for some discipline, and I don't think I would have made it into an institution like this if I didn't do that first. So it couldn't have worked out better."
Eric was based out of Camp Pendleton, 38 miles north of San Diego. In December 2005 he was deployed to the city of Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad.
His unit lived in an abandoned house that was used as an outpost, and traveled with a four-truck convoy that included medics, mechanics Ö [sic] any personnel needed at a moment's notice. There were a few scary moments along the way.
He remembers standing outside the quarters, calling home, when insurgents ambushed a group of Iraqi policemen just a hundred yards away. He found it hard to get off the phone quickly without alarming his parents before they recognized the gunfire in the background.
"When I think about it now, it's one of those situations you realize how dangerous it was, but you don't really think about that at the time," he said.
