No limits

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Dan Rewerts’ oldest son Harley holds a picture of his dad from his Army days. Also pictured, left to right: Son Jack, wife Emily, daughter Charlotte and Dan Rewerts. Photo by B.A. Rupert

After high school graduation, Dan Rewerts never thought he’d go to college.

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Dan Rewerts served in Iraq for more than a year. Photo submitted

 

“I was pretty rough around the edges,” he says. “And I had no desire to continue with school.”

Then he joined the Army. “The military changed my outlook. It taught me to reach my limits, then to surpass them,” he says. “And the GI Bill is a great benefit.”

Rewerts enlisted in 2003 when he was 23. “I wanted to support my country after 9/11,” he says.

The Army taught Rewerts discipline and other values he says he never learned as a kid.

In December 2003 he was deployed to Iraq where he drove a gun truck for convoy security. He served in Iraq for more than a year and received several military awards, including the Combat Action Badge for actively engaging and being engaged by the enemy. He also spent three years serving in Mannheim, Germany.

In 2007, Rewerts was medically discharged from the Army after breaking vertebrae in his back during a training session. Today metal rod implants support his spine.

When he returned to the United States, Rewerts earned an associate’s degree from a community college and attended another university for a year. “It had been 10 years since I’d gone to school,” he says. “I found I really enjoyed it.”

He and his family moved to Rolla last spring and he started at S&T this fall to pursue a degree in business administration. “This is not an easy school,” he says. “It’s definitely a challenge, but I’ve found the more I learn, the more I want to learn.”

By Linda Fulps
Learn more about MIssouri S&T’s veteran services.

Comments

  1. Ron Caraway says

    Congratulations, Dan!
    And Thank You, for you and your family’s service!

  2. Tom Buttram says

    B.A. Rupert: This is the most brilliant photo I have seen in years. Good Stuff!
    Tom

  3. Beloved Dan Rewerts
    warm welcome to the family of Missouri S&T, a place where the challenger and challenging meets and you will go forward certainly for you had the courage to pursue learning even after gap of 10 yrs,to learn one can do it at any age ,any time and any place,yes, we call here in india the learning place as (Mandir,)Temple where you learn with reverence deep meditation and passion.
    thank you courageous for coming to Rolla and being with Missouri S&T,
    i congratulate you for taking this decision
    keep it up
    with love and gratitude
    easwaran
    India

  4. Robert Rodgers says

    Congrats man, I will be joining you at Missouri S&T as soon as my deployment here in Afghanistan is over. Just a few more months of finding these bombs and its all college from there on.

  5. Dan Rewwerts says

    I agree.