The world was a different place when Sean Patton entered West Point Military Academy in June 2001.

He was 18 at the time, fresh out of Lawrence High School. When he got to West Point, Patton thought he’d train for a career in military intelligence, or maybe join the Judge Advocate General corps.

Instead, about a year from now, he’ll be leading a platoon of U.S. soldiers in the heart of Iraq.

The choices that led him to that destiny have been difficult, but Patton, who is currently back in Lawrence on his final spring break before graduation this May, says his faith in his decisions, and in the military, has only gotten stronger.

The world changes

On Sept. 11, 2001, Patton stood on the West Point campus and watched the sky over New York City, some 50 miles to the south, grow dark with smoke and ash.

“We could see the haze from where we were at from the buildings burning,” he said. “Especially when they fell.”

After 9-11, Patton could have walked away from the military. West Point students are allowed to leave the academy before their junior year without any obligation to the armed services. Patton knew there was a war coming. He could have packed his things, headed back to Lawrence and started down a new path.

The thought never crossed his mind.

Cadet Lt. Sean Patton, Lawrence, will graduate from West Point in May and be commissioned as a second lieutenant. After graduation, he'll have a month and a half of vacation time before undergoing eight months of intense training. About a year from now, he'll be deployed to Iraq.

Instead, Patton’s ambitions to enter military intelligence or the JAG corps melted away, and he decided he wanted to train for active duty in the field.

“Combat front-line leadership … was where I could make the biggest impact,” he said. “I almost felt an obligation because I was able to, and I believe I could do that well.”

The reason was simple. In Patton’s mind, leading U.S. troops on the front line would give him the opportunity to have the most positive influence on the world.

“Individual United States soldiers over there impact international affairs,” he said. “To be responsible for 40 of those soldiers — the impact I can make over there right now is tremendous.”

Accepting the burden

But the decisions to pursue field duty had serious consequences.

For one, he had to explain the situation to his mother, Donna Patton-Bryant, who had been cautiously supportive of his ambitions thus far.

“When he first brought up that he wanted to do West Point, I would ask him some tough questions,” she said. “I came from the ’70s — the military was not exactly the highlight of the world.”

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But Patton-Bryant said she has accepted her son’s decision because she sees how strong his conviction to do good is.

“When you are raising your kids, what you want them to do is live their life truly and honestly and authentically — to have their goals and their dreams and to follow those,” she said. “He’s doing that. But sometimes it’s scary.”

And the issue of fear is not reserved for Patton’s mother. Is Patton scared? Of course, he says. But the real question, he believes, isn’t whether he’s afraid. It’s whether he gets to make his own choices.

“I’m not going to let fear make decisions for me on where I’m going to go,” he said. “And what kind of impact I’m going to make.”