Find old friends — or talk some trash — with a new app made for the Army-Navy game
December 9th, 2011 | Army-Air Force Game | Posted by Jon Anderson
Black Knights and Midshipmen can reconnect with old battle buddies and shipmates –- or talk smack to the OpFor — no matter where they are during this weekend’s annual Army-Navy game thanks to a new social media app designed exclusively for sports fans.
Dubbed PlayUp, which launched in October for iOS devices, the app provides public and private chat rooms around virtually every sporting event imaginable. But developers are partnering with Military Traveler – another new app created by a Marine Corps Harrier pilot who bills his base guidebook as “Yelp for iPhones” – to do something special for one of college football’s biggest rivalries.
“Especially with the holiday season upon us, we’re excited to provide a free platform for our armed forces to converse with friends and family miles away over the most popular and universal topic there is – sports,” said Dennis Lee, PlayUp’s U.S. Head of Product Development, in a press release. “Partnering with Military Traveler offers a great opportunity to reach more troops than ever before, and we are looking forward to building off of the Army-Navy football game and continue presenting content to the military as we hit bowl season and the NFL playoffs.”
PlayUp will be creating a “Military Traveler App” room where active and retired military personnel can follow the action in real-time and message about the rivalry.
“During major sporting events, everyone gathers around the TV in the ready room or wardroom to watch the game via satellite,” said Military Traveler creator Marine Capt. Anthony Hatala. “Sports provide a moment of escape from the daily routine while deployed and PlayUp enhances this experience. We’re excited to partner with PlayUp.”
See the service assignments for the Army-Navy game seniors
December 7th, 2011 | Army Army-Air Force Game Football Marine Corps Navy | Posted by Phil Creed
Saturday’s Army-Navy game comes on the heels of another momentous day for the cadets and midshipmen, one that will affect their future much more than the outcome of a football game.
Seniors at both academies received their service assignments (Navy) or branch assignments (Army) in the few weeks, a moment long anticipated by mids and cadets. These assignments determine the path that cadets and midshipmen will be put on when the graduate and are commissioned as officers. West Point”s seniors, who will be commissioned as second lieutenants in May, get tapped to go into branches like armor, infantry, field artillery, etc. Navy seniors, who will be commissioned as either ensigns or Marine Corps second lieutenants, go into a career paths to become surface warfare officers (SWO), submariners, pilots, Marine Corps ground officers, etc.
Here’s the assignments for this year’s senior football players:
Naval Academy service assignments
Brian Ackerman – Surface Warfare (Nuclear)
Bruce Andrews — Supply Corps
Ryan Basford – Surface Warfare
Thomas Batchelder — Surface Warfare
Brian Blick — Marine Corps Ground
Max Blue — Marine Corps Ground
Alex Boddiford — Surface Warfare
Hal Bowron – Surface Warfare
Brady DeMell – Surface Warfare
Delvin Diggs – Surface Warfare (Nuclear)
Neil Doogan – Marine Corps Ground
Eric Douglass – Surface Warfare
John Dowd – Submarines
Zach Dryden – Surface Warfare
Doug Furman – Navy Pilot
Mason Graham – Marine Corps Ground
Hal Hunter – Intelligence
Caleb King – Naval Flight Officer
Jared Marks – Marine Corps Ground
John McCauley – Surface Warfare
Kwesi Mitchell – Naval Flight Officer
Gary Myers – Naval Flight Officer
Torri Preston – Marine Corps Ground
Kriss Proctor – Naval Flight Officer
Aaron Santiago – Surface Warfare (Nuclear)
Jarred Shannon – Surface Warfare
Eric Stein – Naval Flight Officer
Mike Stukel – Marine Corps Ground
David Sumrall – Intelligence
Jon Teague – Marine Corps Pilot
Alexander Teich – Special Warfare (SEAL) [Read more about Teich here]
Jabaree Tuani – Surface Warfare
David Wright – Surface Warfare
West Point’s branch assignments:
Joe Bailey – Armor
Austin Barr – Field Artillery
Davyd Brooks – Field Artillery
Alex Carlton – Engineers
Broghan Carnes – Field Artillery
Frank Ceva – Signal Corps
Steven Erzinger – Armor
Daniel Hinkson – Field Artillery
Max Jenkins – Infantry
Josh Jones– Infantry
Robert Kava– Field Artillery
Brad Kelly– Infantry
Chad Littlejohn– Engineers
Mike McDermott – Field Artillery
Jordan Pleasants – Infantry
Bill Prosko – Armor
Andrew Rodriguez – Infantry
Justin Schaaf – Field Artillery
Kolin Walk – Transportation
(Special thanks to Navy’s Scott Strasemeier and Army’s Brian Gunning for providing After Action these lists.)
Dickie V: Come watch some service academy basketball, baby!
November 4th, 2011 | Air Force Army Army-Air Force Game Basketball | Posted by Phil Creed
Legendary college basketball commentator and Hooters pitchman Dick Vitale is in Colorado Springs this weekend for the Army-Air Force football game. But there’s another Army-Air Force game next Friday — West Point is playing the Falcons at Clune Arena in each team’s basketball season opener — and someone in Air Force’s athletic department had the good sense to get Vitale to do a brief spot for the contest.
This should get everyone fired up for hoops season (and for some delicious chicken wings).
Quick hits: Army-Air Force, Navy-Troy, ‘Game of Honor’
November 4th, 2011 | Army Army-Air Force Game Army-Navy game Football Navy | Posted by Kevin Lilley
Click below for the latest installment of the CBS online series “A Game of Honor.” Remember, these mini-movies are building to the big show, which airs Dec. 21 on Showtime.
A quick look at the weekend slate:
Army (3-5) at Air Force (4-4, 1-3 Mountain West Conference), 3:30 p.m.
TV: CBS (Spero Dedes, Steve Beuerlein). The Black Knights and Falcons take over a national-TV slot vacated by some other game that’ll move to prime time.
Home cooking: Army’s played four games away from West Point and lost all of them, allowing at least 35 points each time.
What’s in a name?: Basic military strategy here — Army stays on the ground (369 rushing yards per game is best in top-tier college football) and avoids the air (less than 50 passing YPG). Air Force is third in the nation in rushing thanks to senior Asher Clark, who’s averaging more than 80 yards a game and more than 7 a carry, but the Army pass defense could prove a tempting target: In those four road losses, the Black Knights have allowed 282.3 passing yards.
Steelman watch: Army’s injured QB reportedly made the trip to Colorado Springs, but there’s no word on his status for the game.
Troy (2-6, 1-3 Sun Belt) at Navy (2-5), 3:30 p.m.
TV: CBS Sports Network (Josh Lewin, Randy Cross)
The run begins?: The Midshipmen need to win four straight to claim their spot in the Military Bowl. Otherwise, there could be a very sad football with cartoon eyes on it.
Bad omens for Trojans: Navy’s on an eight-game Senior Day win streak. Troy will be the first sub-.500 team on Navy’s schedule. Troy is giving up more than 180 rushing yards a game.
Fumble friendly: Navy junior linebacker Matt Brewer has forced a team-high four fumbles this season, tying a school record. He missed the East Carolina game, but played last week against Notre Dame and isn’t listed on the Mids’ injury report this week. Troy could be a welcome target, ranking 79th in the nation in turnover margin.
U.S. Army/AF commanders gamble Europe’s future on football game
November 1st, 2011 | Army-Air Force Game | Posted by Mike Hoffman
We’re just kidding, of course. Two high-ranking officers would never, ever bet anything more than a beer over a football game. Right?
Here’s Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, head of U.S. Army Europe, and Gen. Mark Welsh, head of U.S. Air Forces Europe, making a made-for-AFN Army-Air Force spirit spot ahead of this Saturday’s game. It’s kitschy and the fake, jovial battle over the football at the end is just painful to watch.
We at After Action hate to republish such a spot. We’d much rather see the ones made by cadets or the soldiers and airmen in the field. But unless we’re missing something on YouTube, this is the only spirit spot floating out there. Are we missing something? If so, send them to mhoffman@atpco.com. We’d love to put them on the blog.
Army-Air Force game bumped up to national CBS airwaves
October 24th, 2011 | Army-Air Force Game | Posted by Mike Hoffman
Air Force's Jonathan Warzeka runs for a touchdown in last year's 42-22 Air Force win over Army to clinch the Commander-in-Chief's trophy. (AP photo)
CBS sports executives slid the Army – Air Force game into the national 3:30 p.m. ET time slot after moving the mega LSU – Alabama showdown to prime time.
CBS typically saves this time slot for the Southeastern Conference’s game of the week. However, this No. 1 vs No. 2 battle demanded that t.v. execs milk the college football game of the year for every last rating so the game got moved to 8 p.m. The two service academies stand to benefit as the Oct. 1 Air Force-Navy game must have scored strong ratings for CBS.
It’s great news for West Point and the Air Force Academy’s football programs as this will be Troy Calhoun’s outfit’s third national television appearance and Army will make national airwaves twice this season. VERSUS, owned by Comcast, was scheduled to broadcast the Army-Air Force game at the same time until the switch was made.
Air Force will be playing to clinch the Commander-in-Chief’s trophy for the second straight year after beating Navy in overtime Oct. 1. Army, meanwhile, will look to win and set itself up to win the CIC trophy for the first time since 1996 if the team can also beat Navy. Army has only beaten a fellow service academy three times in the past 13 years.
Air Force is struggling through a three-game losing streak after beating the Mids in dramatic fashion. Notre Dame slammed the Fighting Falcons 59-33 last time Air Force played on national t.v.
Army is similarly slogging through a 2-5 season although the Black Knights did beat Northwestern 21-14 earlier this eason. Junior quarterback Trent Steelman will look to match Air Force’s Tim Jefferson who almost led Air Force to its biggest upset in school history barely losing to No. 5 Boise State last Saturday.