FORT KNOX, KY. – On an early morning ruck march, Cadet Louis Friedli, University of North Carolina, 2nd Regiment, Basic Camp, learned to expect the unexpected. As he went around a bend, a deer ran out of the woodline and hit him. 

It was not the only time at Basic Camp that Friedli faced unexpected circumstances. His drill sergeants made him platoon sergeant for a day, something that he was not anticipating happening that day. 

“I knew in my mind that it was going to happen,” Friedli said, “but I guess at the time when they put me there, it was a surprise to me.”

As platoon sergeant, he learned the challenges that come with leading a group and them relying on you. Friedli constantly had to adapt and change his plans. 

“There’s so many things that you can’t prepare for,” he said. 

Friedli knows that his future career in the Army will be no different and he’s already mentally preparing for it. He believes that your true character shows when you face failure and unforeseen circumstances.

“I think that’s with life too,” Friedli said. “The most tragic things are going to happen out of nowhere.”

Friedli used to practice mixed martial arts and he did not want to compete. Once he reached a certain skill level, his coach told him he had to. 

Friedli won his first six fights, but then, his coach told him that for his next fight he would be facing a fighter who was better and in a weight class above Friedli. 

“In my mind I was like, ‘Oh my God, what am I about to do?’” he said. 

The fight started and was not off to a good start. Friedli was losing. 

“The first round he was tearing me up,” Friedli said, “tearing me to pieces.”

After the first round he realized that he needed to calm down. He needed to stop panicking and look for his opponent’s fighting patterns. Friedli did that and won. 

“I made my fight unpredictable,” he said. 

Getting hit by a deer was certainly not something Friedli, or anyone else, was predicting. The first two miles of the ruck march went smoothly, but then people started yelling, “Deer!” It was already too late for Friedli. Before his brain could register what was happening, the deer sent him flying six feet through the air. He had no idea what had just happened. 

“In my mind, as I’m in the air,” he said, “I was just like, ‘Oh I p— off a drill sergeant.’”

Friedli did not know he went flying through the air, all he saw was a blur and then he was on the ground. 

“They said I flew like wildfire,” he said. 

Then he heard galloping and realized it was no human that struck him. People rushed over, shining flashlights in Friedli’s face, asking if he was OK. 

“It felt like paparazzi,” he said. 

Luckily, the deer left Friedli with minimal injuries, much less than expected. He had a bruised hip, sore rib cage, but the worst was his whiplash. The deer had antlers, so Friedli was lucky that they did not puncture him. 

“Deer are stronger than you think,” he said. 

From fighting an opponent above his weight class, being platoon sergeant and getting hit by a deer, Friedli has learned to never become complacent. 

“You have to expect the unexpected,” he said.