COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- A local soldier will see his lifelong dream come true this weekend.

Thanks to the thoughtfulness of friends and the generosity of strangers, he was given two free tickets to the World Series.

Mark Cannon is a Sergeant at Fort Carson. He's done two tours in Iraq, and now he'll finally get to see the team he has loved since childhood play in the World Series.

"In my 26 years of cheering for them, they never even won a playoff game until this season, so it was a pretty amazing situation," Cannon said.

Cannon became a Texas Rangers fan as a kid growing up in Texas. But as many Rangers fans know, they had endure a lot of lean years.

"When I was a kid I would always say the Rangers are going to go to the world series even though they were horrible," Cannon said. "I didn't know how bad they really were."

Cannon has been deployed twice to Iraq.

During one deployment he was seriously injured by the turret of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle and will now medically retire from the Army.

It's the combination of being a Rangers fan and Cannon's dedicated service to his country that made an old friend want to help him get to a Rangers World Series game.

"It's like going to that 8-year-old kid and saying 'hey, dreams really do come true, you just got to be patient,'" Cannon said.

Cannon's friend started a secret campaign on the Internet to raise the $1,200 needed for two tickets.

"It's amazing how many people he brought out of the woodwork. People from Washington D.C. all the way to Florida, all over the country," Cannon said.

Cannon will fly out Saturday morning and watch game four Sunday in Texas.

"They are unbelievable seats. I'll get to see every pitch and every at bat, so its great," Cannon said.

And he wants to thank all the people who helped make his dream come true.

"They restored my faith in mankind and people, and people really do have kindness in them, and for these people to do something like this for me, I am completely humbled," Cannon said.

Cannon said even though his team is down 2-0 in the series, he won't give up hope until that final out.