Life And Lessons Learned
by Bea Peterson
First Lieutenant Luis Weierbach was recently home on leave in Hoosick Falls visiting his family and friends. Weierbach is a 2014 HFCS graduate and a 2013 State Wrestling Champion. He graduated from West Point in 2018 and is currently stationed in Hawaii. After graduating West Point his military training continued at Ft. Benning, GA. There he participated in Infantry and Airborne Schools for 13 months. Since then he has been stationed with the 25th Infantry Division at the Schofield Army Base in Hawaii.
In February 2020 Weierbach spent time in Thailand with the Pacific Pathways Unit training with Thai military forces, but the COVID pandemic cut the event short and sent the US troops back to Hawaii in late April. Then, in August, he was part of a security force sent to South Korea for five months.
Looking back, Weierbach says the best part of his time at West Point was the friendships he made. “We struggled together, we encouraged each other through the tough physical training. We lived the motto Duty, Honor, Country,” he said. He has West Point friends stationed in Kansas, Kentucky, Texas and Alaska that’s he’s in touch with every week.
He says the most rewarding part of his military life now is the soldiers he comes in contact with every day. He likes to encourage the younger ones, some of them just out of high school. He also likes to listen to the older guys and hear their life experiences.
Weierbach is already looking at graduate school. His goal is to be a lawyer, whether he stays in the military or not. And he has mixed emotions about that decision.
Most times when he comes home Weierbach has an opportunity to interact with the students at HFCS. This year the pandemic prevented that. If he’d had the opportunity Weierbach said one of the things he would have told them is that outside of school is a different world. “Life is short,” he said. “It’s unpredictable and fragile. Whatever finite time you have, remember to embrace one another.”