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Freeman: Being a soldier
I'm shaking, I'm so mad. Literally my heart is pounding in my chest, and now my fingers are pounding on my keyboard, and I'm telling my bosses that even though I'm not scheduled to write anything else today, I have to write this, because if I don't write this I would betray myself.
Just as the United States has betrayed Caleb Campbell.
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| Caleb Campbell doesn't get a chance to play for the Lions. (Getty Images) |
Even if he returns home safely in May 2010, Caleb Campbell has been screwed in ways you never thought the U.S. government could, or would, screw its own.
To say Campbell was "teased" would be unfair to what really went down here. You get teased when you get offered a steak but get served a hamburger. Campbell didn't get teased. He got screwed.
Campbell was offered the chance to play in the NFL ... wait, no, that's the wrong word, too. Campbell wasn't "offered" anything. He was promised. He was promised the chance to play in the NFL under a relatively new Army guideline that said he could play in the NFL and fulfill his commitment to serve during the offseason, right here in the United States.
To cash in on that unexpected lottery ticket -- when he entered the Army in 2004, that guideline didn't exist -- Campbell had to be drafted by an NFL team or otherwise have a legitimate shot at playing in the NFL. He accomplished that by being picked in the seventh round by the Lions.
Training camp started Wednesday. Campbell wasn't there.
One day before Campbell was to report to camp, the U.S. Army told him not to go. The Army told him to report instead to West Point -- to report to West Point immediately. Where he will go next, Campbell doesn't know. Eventually, though, he will go overseas. He will aim a gun, and have guns aimed at him.
The Lions also have been screwed, and while that fact should be mentioned, it shouldn't be dwelled upon. Yeah, the Lions lost a player on their roster. But they can always find another player. If Campbell gets injured or worse overseas, he won't be able to find another body part. He won't be able to find another heartbeat.
Maybe you didn't like the opportunity the Army had promised him. Maybe you didn't like that new guideline about athletes. I know lots of you didn't like it at all. Lots of you were horrified that the Army would let Campbell avoid serving during a time of war simply because of his ability to play football. Lots of you thought it was unfair to the other cadets who went to school with Campbell, who trained with him, suffered with him, and had no choice but to go fight.
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| Meathoook: The fact of the matter is that he's US military property, and the military doesn't always do, or need to do, what is socially acceptable. I'm sure he knew that when he chose West Point. Doyel, why not have such emotions towards mothers or fathers who were shipped to Iraq or Afghanistan? Or even sons or daughters? It's also sad that your political views are so strongly evidenced, which does nothing but weaken your position on the Lt. Campbell situation. |
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| Gregg Doyel: We're not talking about "socially acceptable" behavior. We're talking about morals and ethics and honor, and the U.S. government showed a deplorable lack of all three by jerking Campbell around. My political views have nothing to do with the facts of this case. |
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And you have a point. The new rule was stunning, a shock to the system. Roger Staubach won the Heisman Trophy at Navy but had to serve. David Robinson was the best college basketball player in the country and the No. 1 overall pick in the 1987 NBA Draft, but he had to serve. Caleb Campbell? If he'd made it at all in the NFL, he probably would have made it on special teams and as a backup linebacker. Nobody expected him to be a star.
But that wasn't the point. None of that was the point. Staubach, Robinson, this athlete from Air Force or that one from Navy ... none of that was the issue. Even if you disagreed with the Army's decision to let Campbell pursue his NFL dream, surely you don't disagree with the idea that the Army gave Campbell its word that he could.
And now the Army has changed its mind.
Our government is a mess. Everyone knows that, even those of you who would vote for Bush if he were able to run for a third term. Our economy is in shambles, our international reputation is mud, but along comes a story like Caleb Campbell's from the 2008 NFL Draft, and our Army, our country, shows its humanity by allowing him to pursue the kind of dream that is beyond almost everybody's grasp. It was unexpected and refreshing, a cool rain on a summer day, but now the Army, and our government, has blown away the rain cloud.
Now our country is just urinating on Caleb Campbell.
And they're urinating on you. And me. And that's why I'm so angry. If our Army, our government, our country can turn its back on a promise made to one of its own, what might it do to you or to me? My father served in Vietnam, but I never volunteered to serve in the army, and if either of my sons tries to do it, I'll kidnap the little sucker and drive him to Canada in the trunk of my car. Die for these people? You must be kidding.
When this country tells Caleb Campbell for more than a year that he can play in the NFL, and then betrays him one day before the start of training camp, this country can -- and will -- do anything to anybody. I'm still shaking, but maybe I'm not mad. Maybe what I am is scared.
For now, what I'm doing is speaking directly to Caleb Campbell. Someone, please, get these words to him:
Come home safely, Second Lieutenant.
On behalf of nobody but myself, I apologize for the way our country screwed you.