NFL VS US Army

[Ron Whitfield]

Anybody got more on this one? - www.sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-lions-campbellarmy&prou=ap&type=lgns (http://www.sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-lions-campbellarmy&prou=ap&type=lgns) Sounds like a raw deal.

[Walkoff Balk]

Did this ruling be influenced by the possible friendly fire death of the last ex-NFL player turned US marine Pat Tillman?

[turtlegirl]

Ugh, Can't they just blow stuff up, then call it a day?
Go Army :rolleyes:

[Nords]

Anybody got more on this one? - Sounds like a raw deal.
The taxpayers paid over a quarter-million dollars to turn him into an Army officer. Seems fair that they should get something for his service obligation that he agreed to at least two separate times during his cadet years.

When Navy junior officers roll to shore duty, they're put into a selection pool for one-year individual augmentation to Iraq. Retention of the submarine force's JOs, never much more than 30%, is now heading for the single digits and the IA policy is a big factor. I can imagine that there'd be a tad of resentment from JOs of other services to know that they're devoting their career time to backfilling vacant billets for Army officers who are actually playing professional football.

Eddie Myers, Napoleon McCallum, David Robinson... they all served their active-duty time, admittedly a lot less than they originally agreed to. (Despite Robinson being a bit limited in job selection due to his height.) Eddie, in particular, spent at least one year's 30 days of leave at football training camps just to make sure that he kept a profile for after he left active duty.

My nephew's out in the field at Ranger School and it may be weeks before I hear from him but I'll send this in my next letter-- thanks! He may know the cadet's perspective at West Point.

[Ron Whitfield]

But if the Army agreed to the 2005 stipulations, it looks like they've chumped the guy. Stop loss?

[Nords]

But if the Army agreed to the 2005 stipulations, it looks like they've chumped the guy. Stop loss?
I don't get it either. For some reason the Army chose to interpret the DoD rules differently than the Navy & Air Force. It's not as though the rules are complicated or quickly changing. They just seem to have gotten away with it until they were called out. Or maybe it took this long for a football player of that caliber to actually want to attend West Point, but that's just my bias.

They definitely led the guy astray and left him hanging. (http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/8375114/Campbell:-'I-cried'-but-I-accept-Army's-orders) That sure sends a signal to other junior officers.

Napoleon McCallum was so far behind on his USNA academics that he needed nearly five years to graduate. (Nice guy, though, and he didn't take advantage of his position.) After he got through the system the decision was quietly made to "never again" let mids take longer than a summer-school session after their graduation ceremony. Other guys like David Robinson could just do it all and never needed any help or breaks.

No stop loss for 2LT Campbell. Straight out of USMA he has a five-year active-duty obligation, plus another three years which he can choose to serve as an inactive Reservist. Unless he wants to get into special programs (like aviation or a graduate degree) he'll probably serve two years of active duty and then apply for the sports-related recruiting programs that other pro-caliber athletes have done. But it's hard to keep his football skills current in that environment, which is probably why he's on USMA's coaching staff. Most of the billets for the training schools have already been filled by this time of the year, too, so he's probably cooling his heels for 6-8 months anyway waiting for a slot to start his officer training.

I don't know what kind of football player he is, but this will certainly test the depth of his motivation. He probably has a brain, can make quick decisions, and is relatively immune to stress or crises. Kinda like Kelly Perdue's skillset on "The Apprentice" or Terry Deitz on "Survivor".