Dion Booker: ‘This is my own path'

NUance · May 29, 2012

Ex-Husker Booker: ‘This is my own path'

By Dirk Chatelain WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER Published Saturday May 26, 2012

He recognized the emotions wrestling in his gut. Nerves and pride. Fear and exhilaration. Reminded him of the Husker locker room prior to kickoffs. But this was seven years after Dion Booker's last tunnel walk, 2008. He was a man now, almost 30. The stakes were higher than national championships. He had just come from San Diego, where on the banks of Mission Bay he made a solemn vow — “I do.” Now he was sitting in an Omaha military center with nothing but toiletries in his travel bag.

He looked at his pregnant wife and daughter. He squeezed their hands in silence. When he was growing up, Booker's father inspected his bedroom with a white glove. Examine him now.

See the failed tryouts and reckless mortgages. See the days when Dion was so down he barely left the bedroom. See him looking for a way out of his brother's shadow. Some dirt is hard to scrub. Time to go. Take a short walk into a large room, line up next to teenagers and face the flag. Raise your right hand: “I, Myreon Booker, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”

Three years later, he was toting an M4 rifle through the mountains of Afghanistan.

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