But some say the defensive lineman from Hardin is lucky to be here.

As coach Gary Pinkel put it, the freshman walk-on is in “la-la land” as a Missouri Tiger compared with his one-year tour serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Desert temperatures can reach 125 degrees easily in Iraq.

“There were a lot of tough days, a lot of hot days,” Milligan said. “I just wanted to make it back all right and walk on to this team. I took the good with the bad, even the bombings.”

Milligan, 21, a sergeant in the Army Reserves, is the Tigers’ only serviceman on the team. He spent all of 2005 in Tikrit, Iraq, as a unit-level mechanic repairing Humvees and fuel tankers.

It’s anybody’s guess if he’ll have to return to duty.

He remembers seeing a bright orange flash followed by loud thunder while he was on night watch late one day in April 2005. The explosion nearly shook him off his feet.

“It shook us real good,” he said.

Smoke was everywhere, and shrapnel came into his post, he said. He made sure his partner and everyone else was not hurt by the rocket attack. No one was.

If the explosive round had hit even a half football field closer to his position, he said, “the blast could have killed somebody.”

Milligan returned from his assignment in December 2005 and walked on to the team a month later. He was noticed right away by coaches and players for his work ethic, attitude and commitment to the program, Pinkel said.

“He’s the kind of guy who makes your team better,” he said. “Talk about mental toughness.”

On the field, Milligan stood out with the strength and determination of a soldier and practically saluted senior players and coaches with “Yes sir … no sir.”

“He’s a class act guy,” defensive end Brian Smith said. “He’s the type if dude you wish you had as a roommate. You ask a favor, and he’ll do it. No questions.”

Milligan said he first wanted to join the team in 2004 and achieve his goal of playing Division I football. After being called up to serve, the Hardin Central High School standout put that plan on hold, although he never forgot it.

Five days a week, and with every moment of free time he had, Milligan lifted weights and strengthened his 6-foot-1, 220-pound frame while serving in Iraq.

Overseas, Milligan followed the Tigers as best he could with letters and phone calls home. The games that were available on TV aired at 3 a.m., but he was able to catch Missouri’s 41-24 victory over Nebraska late one night, he said.

Milligan hopes to make the scout team next season and eventually fill a slot in Missouri’s senior defensive line. While he doesn’t see himself getting any playing time this year, that’s not what troubles him most.

The mechanical engineering major, with about three years of active duty left in his contract, could be called up again.

“I’m going to work on fundamentals and get bigger and faster. I try not to think about what could or might happen,” he said. “I’ll just do whatever I can to help the team.”