Ian and his dad share some time in the PX at Fort Carson Sept. 1, 2008, when his family dropped him off for deployment to Iraq. Eric, a Vietnam veteran, offered his son advice only a soldier could give, "Basically I said two things to him, No. 1, I said, 'I want you to be careful all the time and trust your instincts.' No. 2, I said, 'If you're going down, give 'em hell. Fire till your last breath.' At that point he squeezed me, like, 'I understand,' you know. And we didn't say anything else."