Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets alumnus Capt. Andrew Smithey, U.S. Air Force, who earned a degree in aerospace engineering from the College of Engineering as well as minors in leadership studies from the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets Rice Center for Leader Development and economics from the College of Science in 2008 has been selected as the Hokie Hero for the Western Carolina game.

The Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets Hokie Hero program started in 2006 by IMG College and sponsored by the University Bookstore, honors Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets alumni who are currently deployed. Recipients of this honor are highlighted by Bill Roth and Mike Burnop during the radio broadcast of Virginia Tech football games, on the Corps of Cadets website and in the Corps Review magazine.

Smithey is currently deployed to Bagram Airfield as a member of the Fourth Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron. He is serving as a Project Liberty MC-12 pilot, where he conducts tactical intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance in support of coalition and International Security Assistance Force forces in order to stabilize the country of Afghanistan.

Smithey is from Stafford, Va., and this is his fourth deployment. He is a 2007 alumnus of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets and he says he would like to send his love to his wife Brigette, who he misses very much, his mother Diana, his father John, and all those family and friends who are part of the Hokie Nation around the globe.

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