A Veteran's Day Practice
Posted by Matt Terl on November 11, 2009 – 4:46 pm
It could be argued that this entire Redskins season has felt cold, dreary, and rainy; today the weather during the practice matched. So it was probably a good thing that, in honor of Veterans Day, the Redskins hosted 25 servicemen and -women from the Southeast Veterans Service Center in Washington, DC. The veterans were allowed to watch practice, given lunch, and then had a chance to meet players and coaches and get some autographs.
And after that, it was one of those mutual admiration societies, with the vets thrilled to meet the players, and the players honored to meet the veterans.
George Brown served in the Army in Vietnam, “shooting the enemy out of the sky,” and has been a Redskins fan for over 25 years. “What I saw today is how they prepare themselves, and it seems like they actually put in a hard day’s work. See, sometimes you don’t think that when you see them in the game, but when you actually SEE it, then you know they’ve practiced hard. It was an excellent day.”
“It was a great experience,” Andre Carter said, noting that there’s “a misunderstanding that people in this game, they claim that WE’RE soldiers. But, naw, this is a whole ‘nother ballgame. We fight to win; those are the men that fight to live or die.”
Bill Love served stateside through the Vietnam era, working communications with artillery units. “I’m a sports fan,” he said. “I like all sports. I got to see a good, wet, light practice. They looked good. But the light practice, that’s to be expected after watching the guys get hurt the other night, and with this weather I didn’t want to see them go out there and go hard and wind up with another injury.”
(“The weather’s not bad,” Brown interjected. “This is football weather.”)
“It does put everything into perspective,” Albert Haynesworth said. “We’ve got to realize that this is just a game no matter how serious people take it. We’re not putting our lives on the line like these people are.”
London Fletcher added, “It’s the ultimate sacrifice, to decide to serve your country in that capacity. They put their lives on the line for us, so we can enjoy the way of life that we have here.”
Johnny Perkins served in the third Marine division in North Vietnam from 1969 to 1970. “I’m from Washington, D.C.,” he told me. “I remember George Allen, Larry Brown, Charlie Taylor. This was nice for us veterans. I appreciate what the Redskins” — he pronounced it “Rehhhhdskeens,” in a way that I used to hear all the time, but not as much lately — “have done for us veterans. Too bad about the weather, but it was real nice.”
“It’s the reason why we’re free right now,” LaRon Landry said. “They put their time in for our country and I appreciate everything they have done for us. I just went over and shook their hands and told them thank you for all they have done and all the time they put in the service.”
One person who wasn’t on the sidelines today was Redskins owner Daniel M. Snyder. He was still honoring Veterans Day, just in a different place.
Snyder, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, and NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith, unaccompanied by staffers or aides, went on a casual visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center. They spent several hours visiting with staff and wounded troops, primarily back from Afghanistan. The trio went from room to room meeting with troops and their families, from guys who came out of surgery just yesterday to soldiers ready to be released.
Tags: Daniel Snyder, DanielSnyder, redskins, veterans day, VeteransDay
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