While it is often said that cats have nine lives, one feline has given a Soldier a new outlook on life.

On Dec. 8, 2010, a Taliban suicide bomber in Afghanistan hit a patrol assigned to 3rd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment.  Two Soldiers were killed; the rest were wounded.

Staff Sgt. Jesse Knott had wanted to go on that patrol but did not. 

"I felt hopeless," he said quietly. "I was overwhelmed. A sense of worthlessness settled in; I had failed my Soldiers."

But Koshka, a cat Knott had rescued from an abused existence, had another idea.

"He came up to me. He would not leave me alone; he kept bumping into me with his head," Knott continued.  "It was as though he was reminding me that he needed me, that other Soldiers needed me, it was as though he understood what I was going through."

Knott stopped for a moment to collect his thoughts. "I'm not sure I would have made it back were it not for Koshka."

A native of Oregon, Knott joined the Army eight years ago to serve. 

"I got tired of watching 18 to 20-year-olds going to war in Iraq and Afghanistan while I reaped the benefits," he said. "The lives of these Soldiers became more important to me than working as a software engineer."

Then the war came to him.

Serving with 3/2 Cavalry in Iraq, Knott was injured when a 200-pound improvised explosive device detonated under his Stryker. He suffered nerve damage and ripped abdominal muscles.

"I suffered some damage to my abdomen," he said in a matter-of-fact tone.  "I simply sucked it up and continued to drive on."

Knott's body had other ideas, though, and he soon cross-trained into intelligence work.

"My computer skills were put to good use in analyzing battlefield intelligence," he said.

2010 found Knott at Combat Outpost Wrath three hours southwest of Kandahar, Afghanistan.

That's where Koshka - Russian for cat - entered his life.

"He was a kitten, and he had been abused," Knott explained. 

Someone had taken a hair clipper and shaved the animal, cutting him in the process.  One day the cat showed up limping and trailing blood.

Knott took him in and nursed him back to health.  When it came time to redeploy, he found a way to bring Koshka home to Oregon.

"It cost me $2,800 to get him back here, but I did," he said with a smile.  "He's at home with my parents, and I see him as often as I can."

As for Knott, he will soon receive a medical discharge, but he has no desire to stop serving.

"I want to teach here at the EST, the engagement skills trainer," he explained.

"Being medically discharged is not my choice," Knott concluded.  "And if you are a Soldier, then it is my responsibility to take care of you."

Koshka would agree.