A 9/11 reading list
September 11th, 2011 | Afghanistan Army Iraq Marine Corps Navy | Posted by Phil Creed
I’ve come across a handful of thoughtful, powerful stories related to the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attack that have ties to the military sports world. From a teenager describing how his life was turned upside down after his father, a former West Point football player, was wounded in Iraq, to the memories of the emotional 2001 Army-Navy game in Philadelphia, these four reflections are worth your time:
Today’s youths in military families shoulder the horrors of 9/11 (Petula Dvorak, The Washington Post)
“There aren’t too many 17-year-olds who can claim to have a “mom sense.” But Jaelen, a football player at Mount Vernon High School in Fairfax County, can’t look at a sidewalk without instantly assessing the rocks and dips, the ramps and the rolls that would make it a smooth ride for his dad’s wheelchair.
His nurturing instincts were something foreign to him before, because for most of Jaelen’s life, his father was this hulking, real-life action figure who played football at West Point, formed battalions of men and went off to war.
And then in 2007, somber men in uniform came to the Gadson home in Kansas and sat down in the living room. And his mother cried. And his sister cried. And Jaelen’s life changed yet again.”
From Army-Navy to Iraq and Afghanistan (Ralph Russo, AP)
Instead of questioning their decisions to commit to military service, 9/11 affirmed those choices for men such as Gordon and Marine Capt. Bryce McDonald, who was a junior running back at Navy that day.
“What it did to a lot of people is hone their mindset,” McDonald said. “Or it gave somebody a purpose to go on in that general direction. A person gets more powerful when he has a purpose.
“I knew I wanted to be a Marine coming into this place. Yet that event, that horrific event, just put more purpose in that direction.”
Like most of the men who played in the 2001 Army-Navy game, Gordon and McDonald went on to fight in Iraq or Afghanistan — or both — during the 10 years that followed the most deadly terrorist attack on U.S. soil.
Tillman’s call to action immediately apparent (Craig Morgan, FoxSportsArizona.com)
When Tillman finally sat down in the Cardinals old press conference room behind the media work room, the conflict was churning inside of him.
“I think they had just finished practice because his hair was wet and slicked back in that video that everyone has seen now because it’s been used so much,” Omohundro said. “He kept apologizing for being late even though he had just been practicing in 100-plus degree heat. And he kept apologizing for talking in circles.
“He said: ‘Part of me wants to go out and show those people who committed this act that this isn’t going to hold us down, but another part of me thinks there could still be people trapped in the rubble.”
“Then he started talking about how his great-grandfather had been at Pearl Harbor, and he hadn’t done a damn thing as far as putting his life on the line.”
Tillman’s introspection had an impact that day, but there were eight player interviews to edit and post, so Omohundro never gave it a second thought.
’01 Army-Navy game players carry lessons from gridiron to battlefield (Jon Wertheim, CNNSI.com)
”In previous years … you’d get off the bus and people would be booing you. They’d say ‘Sink Navy’ or some fans would be rude; they’d throw beer cans at you. But everybody that season had the utmost respect for the Navy team. I remember getting off the bus at Notre Dame stadium and — we didn’t do anything, we just got off the bus — and all of their fans just started clapping.”
One-armed soldier makes sweet snag at Yankees game
June 27th, 2011 | Afghanistan Army Baseball | Posted by Phil Creed
Congrats to Staff Sgt. Michael Kacer, an Army National Guardsman who lost his left arm in Afghanistan, who’s getting plenty of attention after catching a foul ball with his hat at a New York Yankees game on Friday. Read this story to learn more about Kacer’s remarkable story, and watch the SportCenter interview below to hear it in his own words.
My favorite part of this whole episode might be Kacer immediately giving the ball to his nephew. This soldier is a class act all-around.
Note to grown men who still bring gloves to MLB games: If this doesn’t shame you into stopping that nonsense, then you simply have no self-respect.
Video: Wounded Warrior Amputee Softball Team
June 21st, 2011 | Afghanistan Iraq | Posted by militaryonline
Our Gannett brothers over at the Louisville Courier-Journal produced the video below and wrote a story last week about the Wounded Warrior Amputee Softball Team. The 15-member team is exactly what it sounds like: Veterans who’ve lost a limb in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars who’ve come together to play a game they love and show what wounded troops are capable of.
On VCU watch
April 3rd, 2011 | Afghanistan Basketball | Posted by Colin Kelly
Sgt. Dominic Lawrence, a Human Resources NCO from FOB Shank (left) and Frances Sanchez, a Field Rep for University of Maryland University College (right), react as Virginia Commonwealth University scores a basket in the first half of their Final Four game against Butler on April 3 at Forward Operating Base Sharana, Afghanistan.
Frances, a VCU grad, set up a viewing party for anyone interested in watching. Turnout was low, which was understandable as watching the game live meant being up at 2:30 AM. Sadly for Frances, VCU’s Cinderella ride came to an end with their loss to Butler.
Photo: Basketball in Afghanistan
February 2nd, 2011 | Afghanistan Basketball Marine Corps | Posted by Phil Creed
Gold medalist enlists with National Guard
January 11th, 2011 | Afghanistan Army | Posted by Scott Fontaine
Lt. Col. Steve Rowe enlists Olympic gold medalist Justin Olsen into the New York National Guard. (Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Steven Petibone)
The New York National Guard’s newest soldier is bringing a bit of gold to the Army.
Olympic gold medalist Justin Olsen enlisted during a ceremony Jan. 9 – and then flew to Europe to resume the World Cup bobsled season.
Olsen, a private first class, will train as a human resources specialist. He also plans to apply for the Army World Class Athlete Program, which allows soldiers to juggle their military commitment with training and competitions.
“I hope to be selected and, as a soldier-athlete, I hope that I can give back as much to the program as they are giving me,” Olsen said in a news release. “My plans are to continue to earn medals and make a name for my sport and the program.”
Olsen won gold as part of the four-man bobsled team at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, the first top finish for Americans in that event since 1948.
His enlistment follows the path of other Olympic bobsledders. One of Olsen’s teammates, Steven Holcomb, is a former Utah National Guardsman.
John Napier deployed to Afghanistan with the Vermont National Guard after driving the U.S.’ other sled during the Olympics. Another Guardsman, Lt. John Fogt, competed as a breakman on Napier’s sled.
Olsen first learned of the program from teammate Mike Kohn, who serves as an infantryman in the Virginia National Guard.
“He just sat me down and talked to me about it and said, ‘Think about what you want to do with the sport and what you want to do with your career,’” Olsen said. “I’ve thought about it for a long time, and now is the right time for me.”
Giants player compares booing football players to booing troops
December 3rd, 2010 | Afghanistan nfl | Posted by Mike Hoffman
New York Giants safety Antrel Rolle would like to be treated more like a soldier returning from Iraq. (AP photo)
New York Giants safety Antrel Rolle thinks that getting paid millions of dollars to play a kids game is just like deploying to Iraq.
Let me set this quote up for you and then I’ll let Mr. Rolle take it from there. Boos rained down on Giant players at New Meadowlands Stadium after the home team fell behind the Jaguars last Sunday. Rolle told the media he took notice and didn’t like it. Cue Mr. Rolle:
“We risk ourselves out there on the field each and every day also. When soldiers come home from Iraq you don’t boo them. I look at it the same way. I take my job seriously,” Rolle said.
Of course a Giants media relations rep probably pooped himself when he read the comment and a two paragraph “apology” was quickly issued.
“I used a very poor, inappropriate example earlier today to demonstrate how seriously I take my job. Obviously there is no comparison between the men and women of our military putting their life on the line defending our country and what I do.”
“They risk their lives and that gives me the opportunity to play a game for a living. After I made my earlier comments, somebody even said to me: how would your father, who is the chief of police in Homestead (Fla.) and puts himself at risk every day, feel about the comparison you made? Again, it was a very poor, very inappropriate choice of words.”
I’ll make the same point that Yahoo’s Shutdown Corner sports blog made because it bears repeating. The words “I’m sorry” don’t appear once in the apology.
The whole incident is sad. Not just because an overpaid, mediocre safety has no regard for the military members who protect his right to be paid more in one year than a service member will earn over his entire career. But it’s just another example of how John Q Public doesn’t understand the sacrifices military members have made the past decade while the U.S. has been at war.
Guilt among the pressures felt as Campbell fights to make it in the NFL
September 25th, 2010 | Afghanistan Army Football | Posted by Phil Creed
Caleb Campbell served on active duty in the Army for two years before applying for early release to pursue his dream of playing in the NFL. (Julian H. Gonzalez /Detroit Free Press)
Detroit Lions linebacker Caleb Campbell is the only former active-duty soldier in the NFL. Most people know his story: He graduated from West Point in 2008 and was drafted by the Lions, but the Army prevented him attending training camp after initially allowing it. Campbell, an artillery officer, served two years before leaving the Army earlier this summer to pursue a career in pro football.
Campbell is still with the Lions, but his job security is as tenuous as it gets in the NFL. As a member of the practice squad, Campbell is essentially auditioning every day. Even if he progresses at his position, he could be cut at any time because of other roster needs on the team. And just like that, he could be out of the league.
But as Campbell explained to the Detroit News this week, that’s not the only pressure he feels day-to-day. His decision to apply for early release from active duty is never far from his mind, as are the soldiers he once served with. His best friend, Jake Watson, was seriously wounded in an IED explosion in Afghanistan last week. After getting the news from Watson’s wife, Campbell told the paper that incidents like that amplify the guilt he sometimes struggles with.
“He’s my best friend; God bless him,” Campbell told the paper. “They are over there putting their lives in harm’s way and I’m here playing football. We all serve in our way, but that’s where I initially had my battles.
“I wondered if I was doing the right thing (playing football). But I talked to all my boys and they reaffirmed that I was doing the right thing.”
Read the full story here.
Enjoying high school football, even in Afghanistan
August 25th, 2010 | Afghanistan Army Football | Posted by Phil Creed
Maj. Roy Nickerson's son, Alex, about to kick an extra point during his first varsity football game.
Sometimes it takes awhile to realize how lucky you are. When I played high school football, my father never missed a single game in four years. My four brothers also played high school football, and of all their games, he missed just one. Years later, he can tell you exactly which son’s game he missed, when it occurred and who the other team was.
It took me years to understand that this was more than just a show of dedication and support by my father. Seeing us play in these games really meant a ton to him, far beyond wins or losses or playing time.
So when I received the e-mail below from After Action special correspondent Maj. Roy Nickerson, it struck a nerve. You see, Maj. Nickerson is currently serving in Afghanistan with his unit in the 101st Airborne. Turns out his 15-year-old son, Alex, a punter and kicker for Adair County High School in Kentucky,was playing in his first varsity game last week. Roy Nickerson, obviously, was not able to see his son’s big moment.
It’s a harsh reality similar to what hundreds, if not thousands of deployed troops go through on a regular basis. While they’re out fighting the bad guys, they have to miss their daughter’s first day of kindergarten, their son’s first little league hit, their brother’s college graduation, or in Roy’s case, his son’s first varsity football game. It’s one of the many sacrifices deployed troops make for the rest of us – missing the moments in their family’s lives that we sometimes to take for granted.
Maj. Roy Nickerson
But thanks to internet, the major had the next-best thing to actually being in Kentucky to see his son play: He was able to listen to a streamed broadcast of the game live online. Here’s Maj. Nickerson’s account, which perfectly tells the story of a proud father using technology to make the best of a tough situation:
“We berate technology when it stops working and subsequently our relatively convenient lives become a little harder. Tonight, though, technology by way of the internet allowed me to experience a little of my son’s high school football game. I woke early to listen to the Friday night matchup via streaming audio pumped out by the local radio station where he lives.
The broadcast was first-rate. The commentators were fantastic, obviously veterans of the local high school sports scene. They kept the analysis lively with personal stories and colorful anecdotes about the boys on the field and talked here and there about past heroes. The interspersed commercials advertising small-town restaurants, small-engine repair shops, and local banks reminded me of my youth growing up in Kentucky.
I closed my eyes and I was transported to a high school football field on a hot, muggy Friday night in Central Kentucky. I chewed my nails and imagined the folksy pageantry of the first game of the season versus a neighboring county rival. Through my headphones, I could faintly hear the rhythmic chants of the cheerleaders and the occasional yell of an angry father or a screeching complaint of a mother. I might as well have been sitting right next to them. I noted the boys my son is friends with, some of whom I’ve met, others I know only through their funny Facebook status updates and the pictures they post. Man, they get bigger every year!
Most of all, though, I thought about my son— a sophomore starting his first varsity football game. I wondered how nervous and excited he must have been despite his perpetually calm outward demeanor. I wondered if he realized I was there in the stands as proud as any of the other parents watching. Thank God for high school football. Thank Him even more for the internet to hear a game all the way in Afghanistan.”
For the record, Alex and his team won the opener 20-19.
Best Tim Kennedy video yet
August 14th, 2010 | Afghanistan Army Mixed martial arts | Posted by Phil Creed
The good folks at Ranger Up have put together a short video promoting their brother-in-arms, Staff Sgt. Tim Kennedy. He’s fighting for the Strikeforce middleweight title on Aug 21, and Kennedy has been getting more and more attention as the matchup with Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza approaches. But After Action ranks this video as the most interesting piece of media produced thus far.
As you probably know, Kennedy is a Special Forces operator who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan and currently serves in the Texas National Guard. You don’t often hear him talking about specific experiences he had in war, but the final minute or so of this video gets pretty emotional as Kennedy describes fighting in a three-day ambush in Afghanistan.
