I must say that it's been a privilege to work at the NY State Fair.  I've had the chance to work with a group of outstanding recruiter's who I have no doubt will turn quite a few of the leads that they recieved into future soldiers.  For those of you out there that read this story and don't know much about the Army I wanna tell you a little about the set of Values that we live by as soldier's.  These values are called the Army Core Values and there are seven of them.  They are Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage.  Each week I'm going to write a little about one of these valuse.  This week I wanted to talk about Personal Courage becuase I met a young man at the fair that exemplified this value.  His name is Matthew Jones, he is 14 and he suffers from Blount's Disease.  This disease is more commonly known and bow-leggedness.  He was diagnosed as a young child and was forced by this disease onto the operating table.  At four years old he spent 10 hours getting his bones in his legs broken and pieced back together with plates, pins and screws.  His doctors were unsure that he would ever be able to walk.  Through his courage and perserverance he did learn how to walk and not only that he actually decided this year that he wanted to play soccer.  Instead of letting his disease define who he was as a person he beat the odds and displayed Personal Courage.  This value is something not everyone has but it can be achieved.  Part of Basic Combat Training is designed to instill this value in each and every soldier.  There are thousand's of stories of Personal Courage out there and if you want to have one of your own I invite you to take the challenge and come get the best training in the world bar none.  Thanks again to the Syracuse Recruiting Battalion for its professionalism and look forward to seeing the outstanding civilians of New York on the best team in the world.