ATHENS — The University of Georgia has over 35,000 students walking in and out of classrooms every day.  The students represent a diverse population, but there are some who have survived great odds to be sitting in a classroom. One such student, Bobby Woods, is a Wounded Warrior and Grady Newsource Reporter Adeline Kenerly tells us he’s a true American hero.

 This UGA grad student in the MBA program says he shouldn’t be alive to take a stroll through downtown Athens with his best bud, Maggie.  He should have died in combat. Maggie is a service dog and Bobby’s companion.

 When a Taliban bullet shattered his skull and passed through his brain, Bobby Woods defied the odds.  He lived to tell about it.

 Woods graduated from UGA in 2008 and decided to follow his family’s strong military tradition and enlist in the Army..so that he could later attend Law School on the GI Bill. After Airborne and Ranger School in Louisville, Kentucky, he (along with the 101st Infantry) deployed to Afghanistan.  The number of firefights Bobby fought in outnumbered the days he was in the country.

 Although he’s come a long way in his recovery, Bobby still faces daily struggles. He’s almost blind in his left eye and he’s lost 30 IQ points.  But he’s determined to succeed.  And Woods believes when there’s a will, there’s a way.

 Bobby says, “a lot of things have changed, but you just learn to live with those and continue on.”