Want to hear Greg Fischer's story? OK, he'll revive images one last time of a ultimate fulfillment shrouded in struggle and sacrifice, even though he insists there's really not much of a story to tell.

It was just an intensifying emotional current he started feeling within himself that morning of Sept. 11, 2001, when his ashen-faced chemistry teacher at West Allis Hale High School somberly informed students filing into her classroom to be seated for the gravest of announcements.

As for that land mine that detonated under the right rear tire of his Humvee on a dirt road in Al Qaim, Iraq one night and that enemy gunfire that might have relegated him into a statistic, they just came with the territory on which he dared to walk.

That's the crux of Fischer's story. Take from it what you will.

By the way, feel free to speak your piece on the merits on the United States' commitment in Iraq to Fischer. That's just fine with him, for freedom of speech is one of the greatest virtues of the land for which he put his life on the line to serve and protect.

Just one thing. Please never refer to Fischer as an ex-Marine. For even though he served the last of three tours of duty in Iraq in 2006 and has since been able to settle down, get married, enroll at UW-Parkside and play goalkeeper for the men's soccer team at the school, he will always be a Marine.

"One of the mottos of the Marines is, 'Once a Marine, always a Marine,' " the 24-year-old Fischer said. "There are no ex-Marines. That's a title I'm proud of."

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Where do these young men come from? In an age when childhood obesity is becoming more of an issue, when electronic toys dominate so many kids' lives and there is no military draft to force a young man's hand, what makes a Gregory Anthony Fischer? What sways this West Allis native to leave behind the high school sweetheart he would eventually marry, put himself through the ultimate challenge of a becoming a Marine and then survive three tours of duty on the dark, hazardous roads of Iraq?

Fischer insists it was just a call he wanted to answer since the morning of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But isn't that an oversimplification? So, how about this question: What made Fischer the caliber of person who would have even listened to that call he heard from Sept. 11 in the first place?

"After thinking about it some more, I would have to say that an interview with a World War II veteran in high school was probably a main reason I even started thinking about joining the military," Fischer said. "My freshman year in high school, as an assignment for my social studies class, I interviewed one of my Grandpa's friends, Mr. Bill Hoffman. Bill was in the Navy and was at Pearl Harbor. I was in awe of him and the others that served during that time. Not much older than me, he was sent off to war to defend our country after it was attacked.

"After talking with him about his experiences, I definitely felt like joining the military might be an option for me because I wanted to give back to these soldiers, sailors, and Marines who have defended our country before me. The Sept. 11 attacks were the deciding factor to join the Marines. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have protected this country before me, and now it was my turn to pay them back."

Anyone who hasn't been there can't know what it's like. To hear the sound of enemy gunfire aimed in your direction. To remember a few hours of uninterrupted sleep or a care package from back home with decent food as the ultimate luxury. To passing through roads known to have land minds and to be spared from serious injury or worse because he happened to be driving one of his company's two armored vehicles.

"If I wouldn't have been in an armored vehicle, there's a good chance I would have been pretty badly hurt or possibly not here right now," he said.

And to move into a potentially hostile area in the darkness and see surrounding lights suddenly darken, heralding who knows what?

"We were going to do a little reconnaissance of a little village on the Euphrates River that hadn't been explored yet," he said. "We rolled in, in Humvees and there was only one way in and one way out. As we entered, all the lights went out and every single military-aged male went into what looked like a school compound.

"It was pretty much a dead-end road. We all turned around in our vehicles and, keeping alert, we went back out. As soon as we left, the lights came back on and everybody went back to their business.

"It was one of those situations where you had a bad feeling entering it, but, luckily, nothing happened."

But if you were man enough to handle this trauma, then rewards would reveal themselves - rewards that never diminish within a soldier's soul.

"When we first got over there, we were kind of greeted as liberators," he said. "People were lining the streets as we went on patrols and throwing us whatever we needed. They didn't know much English and people were chanting, 'Good, good Bush' and it was very pro-American.

"But then, I think once we didn't get out of there right away, they started to turn on us. But I believe it will be the best in the long run. I guess I believe that just for the freedoms they've had. I was over there when they had their first elections. And I saw the joy on people's faces and their gratitude toward us being there and having a say in their government."

Unlike the 4,186 members of the U.S. military who have died in Iraq as of Thursday, Fischer was able to resume a normal life after being among those who were asked to serve three terms. He married his high school sweetheart, Becky, a language arts teacher at Greenfield Middle School whom he has known since the seventh grade. And he is in his fourth semester at Parkside, where he became the primary goalkeeper for the school's perennially successful men's soccer program.

Already, he is one of the most respected members of the team.

"When he gives out an order or makes a statement, it gets real quiet real fast," Parkside coach Rick Kilps said. "They respect him immediately when he talks."

But what Fischer really wants is to just be one of the guys. After all, while he's proud of the of the commitment he made, he never thought he was anyone special.

"I joined the Mariners because I wanted to protect my country," he said. "I appreciate people wanting to know my story, but I really don't have a story to tell. I just feel I was doing my job and I'd do it again if I had to do it all over."