Life has changed drastically for 19-year-old Joshua Price this year.

Where he once had the responsibility of making sure he had his singlet, mouthpiece and headgear, Price now makes sure to have his army fatigues and to know how to operate an M-4 assault rifle with an M-203 grenade launcher attached.

Last semester, his first at St. Andrews, Price was trying to keep his head in his books and learn finishing maneuvers on the wrestling mat. Now, Price is studying his role as a welder on an M1A1 Abrams tank, and he's learning how to keep a fellow soldier from bleeding to death if one is ever wounded.

Price was a freshman wrestler with the St. Andrews Knights last semester, but he was called into active duty as a National Guard reservist and is now preparing for a tour of duty in Iraq.

Price had been in the National Guard for two years before being called up for active duty. He is currently training at Camp Shelby in Hattiesburg, Miss., which is the largest state-owned training site in the U.S. and trains soldiers from the Guard, U.S. Army, Marine Corps, Air Force and Navy.

"Our brigade got activated," said Price. "It's just one of those things.

"You've got to suck it up and go do your job."

Price wrestled at E.E. Smith High School, but enrolled at Fayetteville State University upon graduation, and the Broncos do not have a wrestling program. A door opened for Price when Mike Frazzita, a St. Andrews wrestler and former teammate from E.E. Smith, called and encouraged Price to come to SAPC.

"Mike called and put the word out that we needed some guys at the heavier weights," said St. Andrews head coach Joe Baranik. "Josh missed wrestling, so he decided to transfer here in the fall."

Baranik has had former military members on his team before. In 2006-07, one of Baranik's top wrestlers was Eric Fricke; Fricke's U.S. Marines unit was instrumental in finding Saddam Hussein. Fricke was there when Hussein was captured, and he said officers told Hussein, hiding in a desert hole, that George Bush was waiting outside to see him, prompting the former Iraqi dictator to calmly rise and walk out, as if he believed Bush 43 were outside waiting.

This situation is different though. Fricke had returned from war. Price is now heading into the fray.

"We didn't know he was getting called up," said Baranik. "We're very proud of him. You've got to go serve the country when you're called.

"I think he's going to be good for the military. If there's going to be somebody over there protecting me, he's the kind of guy I want over there."

Price was described by Baranik as a hard worker on the mat. He came to the team weighing between 215 and 220 pounds, but worked his way down to wrestle at the 197-pound division.

"He was raw. He sat out a year," said Baranik of Price. "He was one of those kids who got better every day.

"He probably would have been named our most improved wrestler. He was learning every day, and eager to learn."

Price went 0-4, losing by decision twice and twice by pin fall. He was trying to overcome missing a year of wrestling before getting his first taste of collegiate action.

"I thought I did pretty good," said Price. "I had some really tough matches.

"They wouldn't give me a scholarship until I proved myself. My skills were improving. I had some really good coaches that were helping me."

Price is not at liberty to talk about all of what is going on at Camp Shelby. Just to do an interview with The Laurinburg Exchange, Price was required to have a commanding officer in the room with him.

He had to stop several times to ask permission to answer a question. Among the things he couldn't answer were how long he had been at Camp Shelby, and exactly when he was leaving for Iraq (he was able to say it would be sometime in April).

Price was able to describe some of the things he's been doing.

"I've been doing gunnery. I had to qualify with my team," said Price. "We've been doing missions.

"On one of the missions, we had to build friendship with a city that we go into. You have to make sure that you are not seen as hostile.

"On another mission, we were watching out for IED's (improvised explosive devices). We also do what's called 'lifesavers.' We learn to stop bleeding, we learn how to help somebody with a collapsed lung, we learn how to tape up and bandage a wound.

"A lot of infantry stuff."

Price knew when he joined the Guard that there was a chance he would end up getting called up to go to Iraq. The dangers for a member of the National Guard are less than for an active-duty Army soldier, but it is far from a walk in the park for reservists who find themselves in the Middle East.

"They had talked to us about it (about the possibility of being called up), but I was shocked a little bit when it actually happened," said Price. "I had just started wrestling and now I'm going overseas.

"I'm glad I did it. This is an experience not a lot of people get to have, going and learning about the other side of the world."

Price said he will definitely return to St. Andrews and wrestle when he gets back from Iraq. Baranik hopes Price can rejoin the Knights for the spring semester of 2010.

"Yes, I will go straight back to wrestling," Price said. "I told my coach that I want to be an All-American."

Price even thinks his experience in the Middle East can help him when he returns to the team.

"I think it will build up my leadership abilities," he said. "It will help me to be a better teammate.

"Maybe I'll be able to give guys advice about things other than wrestling."