"For those I love I will sacrifice"...the story of Kyle Hockenberry, 1st Infantry Division, US Army....

"For those I love I will sacrifice".

You've seen the internet meme's, the tattoos, the online bravado.  But did you know the story behind the guy that made the saying famous?

I was curious so I looked into it and the bubba that lived up to the tattoo on his side is named Kyle Hockenberry of the 1st Infantry Division.  Check out his story via Time (2011).

Tattoos are as old as war. Lots of soldiers get them, with military motifs, girlfriend’s names, or various guns, skulls or dragons adorning their skin. Some get something less ornate. Private First Class Kyle Hockenberry had For those I love I will sacrifice stitched into his flesh. He had no idea how prescient he was.

A member of the 1st Infantry Division, Hockenberry’s world changed June 15. He was on a foot patrol just outside Haji Ramuddin, Afghanistan, when an improvised explosive device detonated nearby. In this photograph, by Laura Rauch for the military’s Stars and Stripes newspaper, flight medic Corporal Amanda Mosher is tending to Hockenberry’s wounds aboard a medevac helicopter minutes after the explosion.

Kyle Hockenberry, 19, lost both legs and his left arm in the blast.

Story here. 

Did you know Hockenberry lost both legs and his arm?  I didn't.  Bravado is part of the male psyche but I wonder.  Do we (talking about you and I, definitely not Hockenberry) understand the power of the supposedly simple words we throw around like punchlines.

I can't think of many phrases more powerful than the one Hockenberry had tattooed to his side.

"For those I love I will sacrifice".