Army's Elite Athletes Program Indefensible

By KEVIN BLACKISTONE,

AOL

Posted: 2008-04-29 14:56:02

Sports Commentary

At the end of next month on the Hudson River’s west bank about 50 miles north of New York City, some 900 young men and women in sharp-looking dress grey jackets and white slacks or skirts will march into Michie Stadium and wait for their names to be called as the newest graduates of the U.S. Military Academy. And after tossing their hats into the air in a raucous celebration for having survived the mental and physical rigors of the army’s famous training ground for its best and brightest, they’ll be dispatched to the combat arms branch of their choice. Maybe air defense, field artillery or infantry.

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The Detroit Lions selected Army's Caleb Campbell with the 218 pick of last weekend's NFL draft. He is eligible to pursue an NFL career as the result of the Army's special program for elite athletes.

Then, within the next year or two, depending on the length of their officer training, they’ll be deployed to, most likely, Iraq or Afghanistan, if this nation is still entrenched in its wars in those countries.

Check that.

All but one of the 2008 graduates definitely will be deployed. Caleb Campbell may not be. Campbell has the opportunity to slip out of the agreement he signed at West Point requiring him to give five years of active service to the army in exchange for his college education. The reason is because he’s a football player, a defensive back, with a chance to play in the NFL and the academy has a new program to let athletes be athletes if they can make a pro roster.

Campbell was selected by the Detroit Lions last weekend with the 218th pick in the NFL Draft.

Also last weekend, academy spokesman Frank DeMaro told me Monday, the academy lost its 62nd graduate since 9/11 in the wars the army lumps together under the title The Global War on Terrorism.

It is little wonder then why Campbell and six other cadets – four in baseball, one in hockey and one more in football – have applied to the academy’s athletes-only program since it was introduced in 2005. Who can blame them? Playing with balls and pucks for some city’s sports fanatics is a lot safer than dodging bullets and bombs for your country.

For the record, I, like most any kid, dreamed of the former but as a young man and adult I never considered the latter. Military service isn’t for all of us. Everyone doesn’t dare to sacrifice like Pat Tillman, or even think certain wars are just. We are more attracted to the virtually unknown sacrifice of Marcus Mann, a Mississippi Valley State basketball star who spurned the NBA league minimum in 1996 with Golden State to join not a war, but a classroom. Mann wanted most to help shepherd the next generation.

It was predictable that chants of “U-S-A, U-S-A” would erupt at the call of Campbell’s name at Radio City Music Hall where the draft was held. Patriotism has been all the rage since 9/11. But what of the same cheers for Campbell’s classmates who will fulfill their contract with their country and put their lives on the line?

That’s why it isn’t right that the academy is offering get-out-of-war-free cards to a cadet just because he or she can get paid for playing a sport. It isn’t fair to the rest of the class. Worse, it perpetuates our reflex in this country to give outstanding athletes preferential treatment, especially in the classroom. (And some among us wonder why there are athletes who become prima donnas or worse.)

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The Naval and Air Force academies don’t offer such deals to their young officers in training. They don’t distinguish between shooting guards and budding physicists.

Why West Point decided to cut its best athletes a deal it doesn’t extend to, say, musicians good enough to make a living playing their instruments or engineers good enough to make more in the civilian market than the army offers seems selfish. It certainly isn’t to make West Point more attractive to high school graduates. Applications and enrollment at West Point are up despite the wars, or maybe because of 9/11.

Instead, the only reason that appears for West Point to treat the best athletes so favorably is to better compete in the field of play.

The Black Knights haven’t been to a bowl game since 1996. Navy’s Midshipmen, their arch rivals, went to their fifth bowl game in a row last December and even beat Notre Dame for the first time in nearly a half century.

Army also has lost six consecutive football games to Navy and eight of the last nine Army-Navy games.

But now Army football recruiters can offer high school athletes something the Naval Academy can’t – a ticket out of harm’s way.

Instead of getting deployed, West Point will assign Campbell – or its next Doc Blanchard, Pete Dawkins, or Glenn Davis – to recruiting stations. Army will also allow its pro athletes to buy out the last three years of active duty for six years in reserve.

It is nice that army is letting its students-athletes be all that they can be. What is too bad is that by doing so it isn’t extending the same opportunity to the majority of its enrollees like the jingle says. This is exactly what the NCAA calls special benefits and, quite rightly, frowns upon.

Kevin B. Blackistone is a regular panelist on ESPN's Around the Horn, an XM Satellite Radio host and a frequent sports opinionist on other outlets like National Public Radio and The Politico. A former award-winning sports columnist for The Dallas Morning News, he currently lives in Hyattsville, Md.

2008-04-29 10:41:57

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nickkosmitis 09:00:27 AM May 13 2008

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Kevin he will do more as a pr tool for the Army, as did Pat Tillman. Unfortunetly you sound more like Simeon Rice then the regular Blackistone in this article. Did you ask his class mates what they think or did you write this crap on the spur of the am wake-up call without a cup of coffee...or in your case acup of tea. You call you self a sports columnist(award winning my @$$!) Son you've lost the basics of journalism in this...the only thing you accomplished is to enlighten me to the fact that you $uck and scuk plenty and yes I know I misspelled sukc and I know you know what I mean!

monroelaw 10:09:15 AM May 12 2008

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"don't question his patriotism because i promise you he is still ready to go fight, but with these wars do you blame him?"

Soldiers don't get to pick their wars...

monroelaw 10:08:20 AM May 12 2008

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Its time we stopped wasting university seats on athletes. Our colleges and universities are supposed to be places of higher learning and, in the case of our service academies, they are supposed to be places where we train the future leaders of our armed forces. To make special exceptions for those with an outstanding ability to play games is shameful. West Point is in the business of turning out soldiers not recruiting poster jocks.

lyonrubi 08:57:19 AM May 12 2008

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This is one of the stupidest things that the army has ever done (and they've done some dumb-ass things). If it was ME, I'd be protecting the budding physicist and the concert musician. I'd be protecting the studying biochemist and the psychiatry major, the up and coming surgeons and the brilliant mathematicians. Who CARES whether this guy can play ball? That's nice and all, but the army's priorities reflect the country's priorities, and I can point definitively to that and say "that is why the U.S. isn't staying competitive..." This guy needs to keep his commitment and serve his time. What a load of ponies.

polisci808 08:31:46 AM May 12 2008

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what you fail to realize is that by having campbell even on a roster it helps Army recruiting, especially West Point football which has cadets on their roster. the military has similar policies in place if a soldier were to win the lottery as well. under certain circumstances, they will let you go or give you preferred treatment; think of Elvis (supposed to be a tank crewman) driving a General or Forrest Gump playing ping pong. don't question his patriotism because i promise you he is still ready to go fight, but with these wars do you blame him?

wackytravels 08:12:57 AM May 12 2008

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Didn't US Naval Academy graduate David "The Admiral" Robinson go to the NBA instead of going to sea?

At the time the excuse was that he was too tall to serve on a ship. So, give him a shore job; or don't let him go to Annapolis in the first place.

jburg65787 11:03:38 AM May 09 2008

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Others have played football in th army and have put on hold carrers to serve. Caleb should honor the comittment he made. I don't like sending our people into harms way for Bush's B.S. agenda, but he made a comittment when he opted to become an officer and he needs to honor it by being the leader he weas trained to be.

offender1 07:08:49 PM May 04 2008

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Kevin... Stick with saying stupid things about sports! You're a muckraker so stay with the mundane things likes "sports blogging" !!!!!

rtt97 04:31:49 PM May 03 2008

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Kevin states this isn't offered by the Air Force or Naval academy. Maybe someone should check David Robinson's naval record. He was also allowed to do reserve duty that allowed him to play pro basketball when drafted by the Spurs. The same can be said for a defensive lineman that came out of the AF Academy and played for the Dallas Cowboys, I believe his first name is Chad and sorry the last name escapes me. This is not the first time special accomodations have been made for athletes. It happens at all the academies.

kt43lt1 07:34:02 PM May 02 2008

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Another elite athelete getting special treatment. A real hero would go and serve. He is no Pat Tillman. Aren't officers supposed to be good role models? I guess sports are more important than combat to him. Maybe this "war" isn't as important as football.

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