Fort Hood Sgt. Matt Cooke will be Rep. Robert Pittenger’s guest for Tuesday’s State of the Union address. Cooke survived five bullet wounds in the 2009 shootings at Fort Hood, Texas. He moved to Charlotte to live with family last year after being honorably discharged.
He spent the past four years recovering at Fort Hood, where he was shot three times in the back and once in the groin and a bullet grazed his head. He remains 90 percent disabled due to the attack.
Pittenger has cosponsored legislation that would make Cooke eligible for the Purple Heart and provide more benefits to soldiers wounded in the shooting.
“Sgt. Cooke is a true American hero, willingly risking his life to save others,” said Pittenger, a Charlotte Republican said. “Our children should know his story and look to him as a role model.”