1LT Christopher Tsao

1st Battalion 22nd Infantry

1LT Christopher Tsao Bravo Company March 2008

Fate leading officer back to Iraq for his second tour

Posted on: Thursday, March 13, 2008, 4:24 AM

By Amanda Kim Stairrett
Killeen Daily Herald

1LT Tsao

FORT HOOD – His eyesight wasn't good enough for the Air Force Academy, so 1st Lt. Christopher Tsao went to West Point.

His father served in the Air Force for 24 years, and the 24-year-old wanted to follow in his footsteps
Instead, Tsao followed in those of his uncle and grandfather.

On Wednesday, Tsao was the first one in his family since his grandfather to deploy to a combat zone.
More than 500 soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team left that day.
The final flight for the brigade is expected to depart on Saturday.

Tsao is the executive officer for Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment.
This is the second deployment to Iraq in his 3-1/2 years in the Army. The first was in 2005 with the same unit.

He and the soldiers in his unit conducted a lot of combat patrols during the last deployment,
Tsao said, but this time they'll do more logistics missions.

Tsao's hometown is San Antonio, and that's where his family and girlfriend live, so it was good being stationed so close to them,
he said. Fort Hood is his first duty station.

Tsao studied pre-medicine while at West Point and hopes to go to medical school, like his girlfriend, when he gets out of the Army in 2010.

USO volunteer Elisabeth Laird hands Pvt. Michael Riggs a card with a prayer on it before he deploys to Iraq
at Robert Gray Army Airfield on Fort Hood. Riggs and more than 500 soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division left Fort Hood on Wednesday for Iraq.

Photo: Herald/JOHN A. BOWERSMITH

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