Lt. Col. Terry Kilpatrick, U.S. Army

Name: Lt. Col. Terry Kilpatrick, U.S. Army.

Age: 56.

Deployment: Baghdad, Iraq.

Family: Wife, Debbie; son, Terry III.

His story: Kilpatrick is on his third tour overseas in this campaign. He previously spent a year in Djibouti, Africa and was stationed at Baghdad's Al Faw Palace, a base for U.S. and coalition forces that was previously a palace of Saddam Hussein's. Kilpatrick is a career soldier and will be celebrating his 39th year in the military this July.

Personally: Terry and Debbie have been happily married since 1989 yet have spent nearly seven years apart because of his commitment to the military. "If anything, it has brought us as close as two people can be," Debbie said.

The Kilpatricks are a true military family: Debbie spent nearly five years in the SRQ Composite Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol after Terry left to serve during Operation Desert Storm, and son Terry Kilpatrick III spent four years in the Marine Corps during the first battle of Fallujah in Iraq.

Terry, a lifelong Bradenton resident, is also an author; his first book, "The Chronicles of Malcolm Harris: Fear No Evil," was published while he served overseas and is available on Amazon.com. It's the first in a four-part "part fiction/part fact" series dealing with Christianity vs. vampires. Debbie, a freelance photographer and the owner of Bradenton's DK Photography, provided the book's cover photo.

Terry and Debbie are also the proud parents of CherBear, a husky/shepherd mix they adopted from  about two years ago.

Want to know how you can help support Terry and other local troops like him serving overseas, as well as their families? Contact Bradenton-based Manasota Operation Troop Support (MOTS) at 941-782-0748 or MOTSFL@gmail.com.