From West Point, to the NFL, to a bobsled?

bruno

bruno

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I must be missing something here because I can not see how this is allowed to happen. The Army Times a few weeks ago has a story about the Army combing people out of the woodwork who have not deployed to a Combat zone and yet apparently now 2LT Campbell is allowed to have a shortened active duty career and is apparently fooling around with the US BobSled Team. This is just wrong- the Army invested a great deal of money in his education and deprived some other prospective Cadet of the opportunity and privilege of attending USMA and the return is??? A PR opportunity (maybe)??
This young man should be where his peers mostly are: in a unit in a train up for a deployment not playing games and riding out his abbreviated commitment.



http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/07/ap_campbell_bobsled_070709/
 
I am not disagreeing with you, but doesn't the team have to payback the cost to the SA as part of the deal.

What bothers me more is that he wants to cut and run, instead fulfilling his promise. I have no problem if the committment isn't filled because he is forced to leave due to medical issues or RIF. However, this does not seem to be the case.
 
bruno said:
A PR opportunity (maybe)??
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Probably. The US military has always heavily supported the olympics. Probably to the extent that some events would not exist without military involvement. Actually, athletes have joined the military expressly to be an olympic athlete. Check the residents of both the Olympic Training Centers. A lot of military. A senior Army member of the US Olympic Rifle Team, I think, going completely on a couple of year old memory, has evaded the war zone completely while participating in the last several olympics. I suppose it would be possible to base participation on the amount of money spent on training but I would probably be a bookkeeping nightmare.

The Navy, participating to a lesser degree, has eliminated participation by certain groups in all non-combat assignments. If the Army did so, it might prove disastrous to some olympic programs.
 
mombee said:
This is the issue, is it not?

And all military members of US Olympic Team Handball, both men and women, since it became an Olympic sport in 1996, are WP grads.
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No, I thought the issue was a recruited athlete getting out of a commitment.

Did the US Handball team side step their commitments also?
 
Maximus said:
No, I thought the issue was a recruited athlete getting out of a commitment.

Did the US Handball team side step their commitments also?
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The commitment of a recruited athlete is exactly that of a non-recruited athlete.

All military olympic athletes "side step" their commitments to the extent that they are assigned duty stations and allowed TAD commensurate with the time necessary to train.
 
mombee said:
The commitment of a recruited athlete is exactly that of a non-recruited athlete.

All military olympic athletes "side step" their commitments to the extent that they are assigned duty stations and allowed TAD commensurate with the time necessary to train.
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LOL, I wonder how many members of the handball team will be getting an NFL contract next year and do a five and dive for PR?

This sentence from the article says it all:

-For now, if he’s going to wear United States colors on foreign soil, he’d prefer they be red, white and blue in Vancouver. lol
 
I have no problem with service members playing a sport, especially at the Olympics WHILE serving. What I am not a fan of is, reduced commitments so military members can play PRO sports.
 
LineInTheSand said:
I have no problem with service members playing a sport, especially at the Olympics WHILE serving. What I am not a fan of is, reduced commitments so military members can play PRO sports.
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Agreed. Totally. Given the opportunity to be on an Olympic team, I would consider it odd, that anyone would not do everything humanly possible to make it happen. Don't shoot the kid. Change the regulations.
 
FYI...the armed forces have a program for world class athletes. If you're selected for it, then the sport becomes your military duty and that's what you do and where you serve.

There are a LOT of SA grad's in this program...and they represent the USA in international sports competitions.

I applaud THAT program; utterly despise the weak service that allows a graduate out of their commitment to play NFL/NBA/NHL etc...etc...they didn't go to the academy for that and if we're making sports THAT critical at the academy, then lets become a regular school like Harvard and add ROTC.

Yeah, pet peeve of mine.

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
 
Maximus said:
This sentence from the article says it all:

-For now, if he’s going to wear United States colors on foreign soil, he’d prefer they be red, white and blue in Vancouver.
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Please note that this statement is not bracketed by parenthesis which makes it the opinion of the writer, not a declaration by the interviewee.
 
mombee said:
Please note that this statement is not bracketed by parenthesis which makes it the opinion of the writer, not a declaration by the interviewee.
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That was noted by the author of the post in question, hence no quotation marks around the statement.
 
flieger83 said:
I applaud THAT program; utterly despise the weak service that allows a graduate out of their commitment to play NFL/NBA/NHL etc...etc...they didn't go to the academy for that and if we're making sports THAT critical at the academy, then lets become a regular school like Harvard and add ROTC.

Yeah, pet peeve of mine.
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Ditto.
 
Nobody likes the idea of SA to the pros...didn't we already beat this dead horse?? :bang:

:welcome:
 
When it comes to "pro athlete" SA grads...I have only 1 I can point to with pride:thumb:

My former fellow ALO: Captain Chad Hennings.

Yeah, THAT Chad Hennings. Dallas Cowboys, 3 Super Bowl rings...:worship:

Drafted by the Cowboys, went to UPT, did VERY well, then off to the A-10. Flew that for about 3 years if memory serves and then during the "we won the Gulf War, we need to downsize the AF, all of you interested in leaving active duty for the Guard/Reserve...sing out!!!" he left for the AF reserve and reported to the Cowboys.

His history with the Cowboys...well you can read ALL about it. His service as an ALO was exemplary but extremely difficult because when he'd go to speak to students/teachers/parents...do you think they came to talk AF?? :yllol:

So he finally elected to go inactive.

BUT HE SERVED FULLY!!! :groupwave:

THAT is a perfect example of fulfilling ones military obligation and doing with with honor!!!

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
 
flieger83 said:
When it comes to "pro athlete" SA grads...I have only 1 I can point to with pride:thumb:

My former fellow ALO: Captain Chad Hennings.

Yeah, THAT Chad Hennings. Dallas Cowboys, 3 Super Bowl rings...:worship:

Drafted by the Cowboys, went to UPT, did VERY well, then off to the A-10. Flew that for about 3 years if memory serves and then during the "we won the Gulf War, we need to downsize the AF, all of you interested in leaving active duty for the Guard/Reserve...sing out!!!" he left for the AF reserve and reported to the Cowboys.

His history with the Cowboys...well you can read ALL about it. His service as an ALO was exemplary but extremely difficult because when he'd go to speak to students/teachers/parents...do you think they came to talk AF?? :yllol:

So he finally elected to go inactive.

BUT HE SERVED FULLY!!! :groupwave:

THAT is a perfect example of fulfilling ones military obligation and doing with with honor!!!

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
Click to expand...

Hey don't forget about Roger Staubach. Wasn't a bad player either and, oh well he went to USNA.
 
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