From: St Pete Times Newspaper

Iraq

Deputy reported injured in Iraq

The deputy is severely injured, the sheriff says.
The reservist's wife, also a deputy, was trying to travel to Germany, where he is being treated.
By: Steve Thompson....Published July 7, 2005

NEW PORT RICHEY - Pasco sheriff's officials got the call Wednesday morning: Deputy Josh Cooley - who shipped out to Iraq about six months ago - had been wounded.
A Marine Corps officer was trying to reach his wife, Christina Cooley, who is also a deputy, so she could fly to Germany where he is being treated.
"They wanted her on a plane at that moment," Pasco County Sheriff Bob White said. "They wanted her there now."
White said he met with Christina Cooley briefly at the courthouse, where she works as a bailiff.
"She's holding up well," the sheriff said. "As well as can be expected."
Soon afterward, she was scrambling to get on a flight. White was not sure if by evening she had left.
White didn't know what her husband's injuries were.
"I don't really know exactly the extent of his condition. We won't know until his wife gets to Germany," he said. "But apparently he's severely wounded, and we're hopeful that he will survive."
White also didn't know how Cooley was wounded.
"I do know that he did take some shrapnel," the sheriff said.
Josh Cooley, 28, took a leave of absence from the agency in early 2004 to train to be in the Marine Reserve.
"While I hated to see him go, I understood what was drawing him," White said.
Cooley, he said, knew he could be "sacrificing his future and his fortune."
"He was by no means naive about his service to his country," White said. "He didn't have stars in his eyes. He had a deep love for country and freedom in his heart. That's what compelled him to go."
He was called up for active duty in December and soon left for Iraq.
White described Cooley as a "striking figure": tall, muscular, fit and smart.
A deputy since 1998, Cooley has been an active member of the Pasco SWAT team. In 2003, he was awarded the sheriff's Medal of Valor for his part in a shootout that left another deputy seriously injured and a suspect dead.
"His service to our country cannot be overstated," the sheriff said. "Just like all those other men and women that give so much. They give the last full measure in some cases, and we're still praying that Josh doesn't have to do that."