Staff Sgt Randy Eoute

Many soldiers are considered heroes for their actions on the battlefield. Staff Sgt. Randy D. Eoute, 38, is a hero for his actions off it.

In February 2007, he learned his brother-in-law, who had been diagnosed with cancer, needed a liver transplant to survive. Eoute (pronounced /"you-it/"), then stationed in Hawaii, didn’t hesitate to volunteer.

He flew across country to undergo tests at John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore to confirm his donor eligibility. He later underwent a 13-hour surgery that transplanted more than half his liver into his brother-in-law, Michael T. Kriner.

More than a year later, Kriner has a fully functioning liver and remains cancer-free. /"What a man!/" he wrote to Army Times. /"Thank you, Randy. You saved my life./" Eoute was supposed to stay at the hospital for the recommended four to six weeks of recovery. But he was back on duty within three weeks because he had already used his annual 30 days of leave for the testing, surgery and recovery.

Eoute, an infantryman who enlisted in the Guard at age 17, is serving a 15-month tour in Iraq as a Stryker gunner.