.Should cadet's NFL status keep him out of Iraq?
Detroit Lions draft selection Caleb Campbell comes from an extraordinary sports family. His older brother Jacob was a professional bull rider, and his younger brother Jeremy is a USA Paralympian in track who played quarterback in high school despite having a prosthetic leg.
But Campbell also belongs to another fraternity -- at the U.S. military academy. His selection in the seventh round Sunday made him the first cadet taken in the NFL draft since Green Bay chose quarterback Ronnie McAda in 1997.
Ignoring players from the Army, Navy or Air Force academies is understandable, considering their commitment to serve in the military after completing college. But Campbell could break ground. He could become the first football player to take full advantage of a new rule that allows athletes with pro potential to fulfill their military commitment as an Army recruiter and with time in the reserves.
(Center Pete Bier could have been the first last year. An undrafted free agent, Bier was signed by the Green Bay Packers but was released before training camp.)
Campbell likely would be headed to Iraq or Afghanistan if he hadn't been drafted by the Lions. He acknowledged to ESPN that there has been some backlash from other cadets about his possible loophole.
"I've heard some of that," said Campbell, recently featured on ESPN's E-60. "It's tough for me because as an officer, I trained to take a platoon into battle. It was initially sort of a tough thing, but who's to say I can't still have a career as an officer?"
Campbell also said he hopes to "show a lot of people who are skeptical about the academy's policy that this can really be good."
What do our readers say? Should the ability to play sports professionally be a reason to keep a cadet out of combat?
USAtoday
I don't understand this at all.
Doesn't it create a new class of soldier, those in the NFL and those not?
But Campbell also belongs to another fraternity -- at the U.S. military academy. His selection in the seventh round Sunday made him the first cadet taken in the NFL draft since Green Bay chose quarterback Ronnie McAda in 1997.
Ignoring players from the Army, Navy or Air Force academies is understandable, considering their commitment to serve in the military after completing college. But Campbell could break ground. He could become the first football player to take full advantage of a new rule that allows athletes with pro potential to fulfill their military commitment as an Army recruiter and with time in the reserves.
(Center Pete Bier could have been the first last year. An undrafted free agent, Bier was signed by the Green Bay Packers but was released before training camp.)
Campbell likely would be headed to Iraq or Afghanistan if he hadn't been drafted by the Lions. He acknowledged to ESPN that there has been some backlash from other cadets about his possible loophole.
"I've heard some of that," said Campbell, recently featured on ESPN's E-60. "It's tough for me because as an officer, I trained to take a platoon into battle. It was initially sort of a tough thing, but who's to say I can't still have a career as an officer?"
Campbell also said he hopes to "show a lot of people who are skeptical about the academy's policy that this can really be good."
What do our readers say? Should the ability to play sports professionally be a reason to keep a cadet out of combat?
USAtoday
I don't understand this at all.
Doesn't it create a new class of soldier, those in the NFL and those not?
posted by madtom at 10:54 PM
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