SPC Jake Kudelka

SPC Jake Kudelka sat down with me for Heroes I Know. Grew up near Davenport, Iowa. High-school recruiters got him. Army after that. 14T — “Tango” — Air Defense. Bravo 552. Korea. Fort Bliss. Hood.

Early on, social and PT were a fight. He turned into the teammate you could count on.

Then the headline. Daegu airport. Checkpoint. A fellow soldier planted scissors and a sex toy in Jake’s carry-on — a prank on him, not something he packed. International-incident energy. The kind of story you cannot make up, so you hit record.

He walked me through unit life, Korea, and civilian life after. No fluff. A true hero that I know. That is why we hit record. Get the story on tape before we are too old or too sick to tell it.