The Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets honored more than two dozen Hokie Heroes at Saturday’s football game against Tennessee at Bristol Motor Speedway. They were U.S. Army Capt. Travis Taggart and the Virginia National Guard’s First Battalion, 116th Infantry Brigade combat team.

The Hokie Hero program, started in 2006 by IMG College, honors corps alumni who are deployed. Recipients are highlighted by Jon Laaser and Mike Burnop during their radio broadcast of Hokie football games, on the Corps of Cadets website, and in the Corps Review magazine.

The 116th Infantry Brigade Combat team includes 26 current students or alumni of Virginia Tech and the Corps of Cadets deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Spartan Shield in Kuwait. 

The Virginia National Guard’s First Battalion, 116th Infantry Brigade combat team
The Virginia National Guard’s First Battalion, 116th Infantry Brigade combat team

The unit was nominated by Virginia National Guard Capt. Tom Bortner, a corps alumnus who graduated in 2006 with a degree in geography from the College of Natural Resources and Environment.

Taggart is a corps alumnus who earned a degree in political science from the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences in 2010.

He is a Medical Service Corps officer and a UH-60 Medevac pilot on his second deployment to Bagram, Afghanistan. He is the headquarters company commander of the 2-1 General Support Aviation Battalion, which serves all of Afghanistan.

As a senior in the corps, Taggart was both in the Band Company and was the 3rd Battalion commander.

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