As you all know by now, we had our Challenge Coin Display Build No. 3 and the displays that were sent to us by our members were handed out locally to our troops. Many went to the men and women at March Air Force Base and some went to some troops around town and one special display went to our own Adam Schlagenhauf, an Army Veteran and a wounded warrior. I would like to share some of Adam's biography, and knowing Adam the little bit I do, but knowing veterans as well as I do, this would have been really hard to get out of Adam if it weren't for the help of his father-n-law John Moody, who is also The Patriot Woodworker's Assistant Administrator.

Adam was in Iraq from 2004-2005, he was injured in July of 04 during a convoy. His convoy was hit by an IED, he was up in the turret of his HMMWV when it blew between a lead vehicle and his. Adam was slung back against the turret ring hitting his lumbar and laid him backwards on the roof of the truck. When he made it into base he saw the medics and was given 7 days quarters and he then returned to duty. Adam was with D Co. 711th Signal Battalion based out of Al-Kut Iraq. His entire deployment was doing convoy operations and base QRF.

Adam then made another deployment in 2007-2008 with 20th Special Forces to Columbia, South America. Stemming from his initial injury until October 2009 he had been having some lumbar pain and issues with his right leg and foot. During lane training Adam was doing a high crawl lane when his lumbar popped and his legs went numb. He was diagnosed with an annular tear to his L-5/S-1 disc do to previous trauma and continued aggravation from service. After 14 yrs of service Adam was Honorably discharged due to his injuries. As Adam states "My story is nothing compared to a lot of my Brothers and Sisters in Arms and I do thank you for the coin display and it will have a place of its' own in my wood shop when I have it finished".

Thank you Adam for sharing just a little bit of your service history with us, I know most vets prefer not to speak of their service, vets are a pretty humble bunch when it comes to this.

So without further ado, let us introduce you to Adam Schlagenhauf, he is holding a Challenge Coin Display that was made with pride and love by our very own Ronald Dudelston on behalf of all the folks here at The Patriot Woodworker.

A note to Adam, sir, if you would like to add anything please feel free to come on and add or make any corrections to what I am writing here.

This is a huge honor for us here at The Patriot Woodworker. This is why we exist here, to help out our troops returning home from war. And we do this by donating money and funds to The Wounded Warrior Project and Homes For Our Troops, and we build these displays for our guys and gals who have put it all on the line for us. Allot of Americans take for granted their service and sacrifice, but not us.

Adam, you stood post with rifle in arm for us, you helped keep the bad guys off our shore. You and your buddies put it all on the line, you now have life long disabilities because of your service to us, and for this we are forever grateful. The folks here at The Patriot Woodworker would like to say Thank You Sir. We could never do enough for you, we could never say the right words, but we can only do what we know.

And again, welcome to The Patriot Woodworker

John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker