Wounded Iraq veteran is heckled by fellow students in debate over military ban

He survived being shot 11 times in Iraq, lost a leg and spent two years in hospital recovering from his wounds before winning a place at an Ivy League university.

But the courage of former U.S. army staff sergeant Anthony Maschek did not deter his fellow students from heckling him when he bravely took to the stage in a debate over Columbia University's military ban.

Mr Maschek, 28, was hissed, booed and jeered at when he spoke at a debate over whether the college in New York should allow the Reserve Officers' Training Corps back on campus.

Courage: Iraq veteran Anthony Maschek, pictured with his wife Angela, was heckled and booed when he spoke at a town hall meeting at Columbia University

Mr Maschek, who was awarded the Purple Heart for his bravery, said: 'It doesn't matter how you feel about the war. It doesn't matter how you feel about fighting. There are bad men out there plotting to kill you.'

Some students yelled 'racist' as he addressed the town hall meeting to discuss whether Columbia should end its 42-year ban on the ROTC.

The first-year student broke both his legs and suffered serious wounds to his stomach, arm and chest in a fire fight near Kirkuk, northern Iraq, in 2008.

After two years recovering at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington he enrolled at university to begin an economics degree.

Heckled: Anthony Maschek lost a leg after being shot 11 times during a firefight in Iraq, but he was jeered on stage by fellow students at a town hall meeting

Columbia's students are engaged in a heated debate over whether military activities should again be allowed on campus after they were banned in 1969 as a protest against the Vietnam War.

In a 2005 vote the student body threw out the motion because of the U.S. army's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy on gay soldiers.

Even though it was overturned last year, more than half the students who spoke at the meeting still opposed the reintroduction of the ROTC.

Many carried anti-military signs bearing slogans including 'one in three female soldiers experiences sexual assault in the military'.

Herbert Gans, the Emeritus Professor of Sociology, told the New York Post: 'Columbia should come out against spending $300 billion a year on unnecessary wars.'

But student José Robledo, 30, who commutes to Fordham University for ROTC coursework, told the newspaper: 'The anti-ROTC side has been disrespectful and loud. They hiss and they jeer. It's been to the detriment of the argument.'

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