People lining up to fight for Iraq Veteran

Dozens, including veterans and Republicans, urge Scott Walker to issue pardon
Wisconsin State Journal
By Dee J. Hall
11 hours ago

Doug Zwank considers the fate of Eric Pizer and thinks, “That could have been me.”

Like Pizer, Zwank is a combat veteran and former corporal in the Marine Corps. And like Pizer, he narrowly escaped death while serving his country overseas.

After returning from Vietnam, Zwank started what would become a long career in law enforcement, first as a special agent for the state Department of Justice, then later training fellow officers at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Georgia. He also worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and served as mayor of Middleton for four years.

But in 1968, when he returned from combat to attend UW-Madison, Zwank was just another angry veteran, traumatized by the deaths of his friends and comrades and trying to unlearn the instincts that had kept him alive at war. He got into fights, Zwank said, but was never arrested.

Pizer is looking for relief from the felony conviction after he broke a man’s nose in a fight in Boscobel just days after he returned from Iraq in 2004. Pizer said the punch was a reflex that occurred after the victim came at him from the side — one he deeply regrets.

In the 10 years since he came home, Pizer has earned an associate’s degree in criminal justice with hopes of becoming a police officer. But as a felon, Pizer is prohibited from carrying a gun. He can’t be a cop. That goal is on hold while Pizer works as a piano mover and at Menards to support himself and his preschool son, Xander.
red more here