Maryland's Forty-Seventh Hero

michaeljpotocki
Originally uploaded by Randuwa

Army Spc. Michael J. Potocki, 21, of Baltimore; assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Baumholder, Germany; died June 26 of injuries sustained when his unit came in contact with enemy force's small-arms fire during combat operations in Asad, Iraq.

HE HATED BEING IN THE ARMY, BUT HE WAS FAITHFUL TO HIS DUTY

In a eulogy delivered by one of the soldier's many uncles, Specialist Potocki was remembered as a friendly person who always had a big smile on his face and as a friend to fellow soldiers - "someone to count on when things went bad," Stanley Potocki said.

After attending Father Kolbe School in Canton, then playing lacrosse and graduating in 2003 from Patterson High School, "Mikey took a big step in life," Stanley Potocki said of his nephew's decision to join the military. "When he made it through his first tour, we breathed a sigh of relief."

"This tour would be a lot harder," the uncle said, adding that Specialist Potocki and his fellow soldiers "were being shot at all the time."

Included in the funeral program was an excerpt from what Specialist Potocki had written about his time in the Army. Military service, he wrote, had introduced him not only to "extremely crazy weather conditions" and "interesting people from all over America," but also to the experience of "risking my life every day for a cause I'm not real sure is the real one."

"But all these things have turned me into a better man and a better person," he continued. "I've begun to not take things for granted because I know for a fact how bad things can really get."

Specialist Potocki continued: "I hate being in the Army," but he added that he was glad that he had joined because of the ways his service had changed him and would continue to do so until he left the Army.

"So for all the downsides to being here," he wrote, "all I have to do is look into the future and look at all the great things I have accomplished and how much of a better human being it has made me, and I'm happy again."