However, once his name had been revealed, Joe said that "90 to 95 per cent of the soldiers in my unit shook my hand. It was back home where the backlash started."
Unfortunately, thanks in part to the extremist gasbags on talk radio, some people in his hometown weren't as appreciative:
Joe said there was a lot of animosity towards him and his family. Initially his wife fled to her sister's house which was vandalised with graffiti and both were later placed under protection.
Joe said: "We had to leave everything we had behind and the choice forced us to start over somewhere else, to find new jobs and start a new life. We've moved to a new place, we've done everything but change our identities."
Once reunited with his family, a Lieutenant Colonel asked him where he wanted to go, and Joe replied "home". Joe said the Lieutenant Colonel's response made him realise just what his actions were going to cost him and his family when the officer said: "You don't understand son. You can't go home, you'll never be able to go home."
The US Army carried out a security assessment in Joe's hometown to find out whether or not he was at risk. "They sent plain clothes investigators to snoop around and find what they could and after six days they returned a finding I was in imminent danger of bodily harm or death to return there [Joe's home town]," Joe explained.
Initially Joe and his family had to live under armed protection.
Joe said: "For the first six months we couldn't move without an armed guard. If we went grocery shopping, I had two armed security officers with me, if we went to a restaurant we were armed, if I went to the gym to work out, I had an armed guard with me all times."
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