Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
By Times StaffThe story of Army Sgt. 1st Class Paul R. Smith.
Sgt. 1st Class Paul R. Smith had a simple hope - that "all my boys make it home" from Iraq.
He knew only one way to make that happen. He had to make each of them be the kind of Army man he was - a soldier's soldier, obsessed with discipline, details, professionalism.
Smith's men didn't care much for him or his by-the-book methods. But Smith, who had grown up in Tampa, never asked his men to do anything he wouldn't do himself.
In April, a chaotic battle near Saddam International Airport tested Smith's leadership in a way his stints in Kuwait, Bosnia and Kosovo never did.
He found himself leading 16 GIs in a firefight against 100 enemy soldiers. For Smith and his men it was a defining moment: Would all the training matter, or be quickly forgotten? Would his troops finally understand why he had been such a taskmaster?
Reporter Alex Leary spent months tracking down nearly 20 soldiers to re-create the scene and detail the battle. Smith's actions that day have earned him a nomination for the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest award for bravery.
What makes a hero? Smith, 33, probably never asked the question.
But on that sweltering day 6,000 miles from home, he and his "boys" ended up answering it.
Sgt. Smith's story appears in Section H. Audio from interviews and additional photographs can be found at www.sptimes.com/paulsmith