SPC Kristopher Krause of Missoula sent home this photo showing SGT John Crowe (Missoula), SGT Mitchell Cales (Missoula), SPC Donald Chaney (Ronan), SGT Fransico Morazan (Helena), PFC Keith Dietz (Hamilton), SPC Kristopher Krause (Missoula), and SGT Lawrence Gregg (from Delaware) boasting their Griz pride. Photo courtesy of Specialist Michael Lowe
Traitor.chris wrote:Hamilton soldiers support Montana Grizzlies from Afghanistan
SPC Kristopher Krause of Missoula sent home this photo showing SGT John Crowe (Missoula), SGT Mitchell Cales (Missoula), SPC Donald Chaney (Ronan), SGT Fransico Morazan (Helena), PFC Keith Dietz (Hamilton), SPC Kristopher Krause (Missoula), and SGT Lawrence Gregg (from Delaware) boasting their Griz pride. Photo courtesy of Specialist Michael Lowe
yeah, the look like they got the life of Riley, huh BF?BlackFalkin wrote:I wonder what those guys do all day. Stand around and take pictures holding up a griz banner, eating MREs, laying around in tents, shooting at rocks, collecting hazardous pay, talking on the phone to their gf back home whos sleeping with every guy in town. Sounds stressful. PTSS is a joke.
http://www.brenhambanner.com/articles/2 ... orts02.txt" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;Chris Aiken is an immovable force as a defensive lineman for the Blinn Buccaneers. Butler found this out last Saturday when the 6-foot-1, 298-pound defensive tackle had three tackles and one sack against the No. 1-ranked junior college football team in the country.
Each time Aiken made a big play, he paused to tap his heart twice and salute.
“I do this for the soldiers, the fallen soldiers, the soldiers who are still over seas and to my best friend that is not with me any more,” Aiken said.
Aiken joined the Army on his 18th birthday and served two tours in Iraq. He spent five years in the Army as part of the military police and lived in Samarra, one of the most dangerous cities in Iraq, before finding himself starting at Blinn College as a sophomore.
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Aiken said the military made him more disciplined and the military mind set is almost the same as being on the football field.
“Coach (Brad) Fran(chione) is like the captain, the assistant coaches are like the lieutenants and instead of a company, you have a team,” Aiken said. “The offense and defense are like different platoons, and the other team is the enemy. We work every day to face a different enemy every week.
“Coaches yelling at you is almost the same as the drill sergeants yelling at you. I am one of those players that they don’t have to tell twice.”
Franchione agreed with Aiken.
“His military background adds to his discipline and it shows up on the football field,” Franchione said.
No one on the Buccaneer coaching staff knew how old Aiken was when he joined the team in 2007. Most of the players are 18 to 20 years old and Aiken was 23 years old.
“I saw a big kid who moved well, but I didn’t know that much about him,” defensive line coach Keith Browning said. “He was interested in playing football and we told him to come to the combine to see what he had.
“He took a spot on the roster as a walk-on and in the spring he developed really well and we ended up putting him on scholarship.”
Aiken doesn’t think he could have played football right out of high school. He was only 5-foot-8 and weighed 270 pounds.
“I was a late bloomer and hit another growth spurt when I was 20. I grew five more inches,” Aiken said. “I know that at under 6 feet I couldn’t play Blinn football.”
Aiken knows he made the right decision in coming to Blinn when he did. He was in Iraq and had three more months remaining on his deployment time when the reinlistment officers offered him $60,000 cash to reinlist for five more years, Aiken said.
“I was praying and talking to my family because I didn’t know what I was going to do,” Aiken said. “I was thinking about the money and what that could pay for and I was seriously considering staying in.
“But my lieutenant left an article on my desk about two veterans that had left the military and walked on to play football for Florida State. One was 23 the other was 30. That was my defining moment, and I thought if they could do it, so can I.”
Aiken’s platoon sergeant told him to look at playing for a junior college instead of trying to walk on to a university. He looked on the Internet at junior colleges that were close to his home town of Elgin and found Blinn.
“It was one hour outside of Austin and was ranked high,” Aiken said. “If I could get into Blinn, that would be a stepping stone for getting into a university.”
Aiken’s next defining moment came with a phone call from his best friend’s wife. It was the phone call no one wants to get.
“My best friend James Hale was considering reinlisting and I told him to get out of the military and become a police officer at home. He decided to reinlist and we were talking about how he had to come and watch my football games at Blinn. He was like ‘Yeah, yeah I’ll be there.’ Then, on August 13 of last year, I got a phone call from his wife saying that his humvee was blown up by an improvised explosive device (IED), and he was killed.
“I didn’t talk to anyone that entire day. I didn’t laugh at the jokes, I didn’t play around with the players, I was just in shock. I talked to this guy last week. He couldn’t be dead.”
Hale’s wife gave Aiken one of Hale’s dog tags that Aiken wears around his neck, along with the cross his mother gave him before being deployed to Iraq.
“She told me never to take it off and I never have,” Aiken said.
Every time he makes a big play and salutes, he knows that his friend is watching, Aiken said.
“Aiken is a very high-character kid and projects a good role model for the other younger players,” Browning said. “We just want him to go to that next level and become more of a vocal leader to get after the guys who aren’t doing everything they need to.
“He has accepted this role and is doing a great job.”
Aiken wants to be more than just someone on the team, he wants to be someone that the players can come and talk to if they need anything.
“We never leave a fallen soldier behind,” Aiken said. “I try to get to know the players on a personal level and tell them that they should follow their dreams.
“Even if they get sidetracked, they can come back in the future.”
You are never too old, Aiken said.
“Winning that game against Butler almost felt like coming home from deployment. The band is playing, your superiors are shaking your hand and telling you what a great job you did and you are alive.
“If we win nationals then that might equal the coming home feeling.”
Aiken and the Buccaneers will play Southeast Prep at 5 p.m. Thursday at Spencer Stadium.
Boy you're a bitter bitch aren't ya?BlackFalkin wrote:"taps his heart twice, then salutes." - Corny. Its a war on "terrorism"
Yeah, everyone knows the real war is being fought on the streets.BlackFalkin wrote:"taps his heart twice, then salutes." - Corny. Its a war on "terrorism"
They do a hell of a lot more than Sh!t Stain eastern fans living in the Sh!it Hole that is Lost Angles.BlackFalkin wrote:I wonder what those guys do all day. Stand around and take pictures holding up a griz banner, eating MREs, laying around in tents, shooting at rocks, collecting hazardous pay, talking on the phone to their gf back home whos sleeping with every guy in town. Sounds stressful. PTSS is a joke.
Well, my son had lots to say about what they did over in Afghanistan. Maybe if you took the time to talk to some of the vets, you would know instead of wonder. I know when I deployed, we sure didn't do any of the stuff you are talking about above and neither did my son while he was deployed. I really wonder about some folks back here in the states.BlackFalkin wrote:I wonder what those guys do all day. Stand around and take pictures holding up a griz banner, eating MREs, laying around in tents, shooting at rocks, collecting hazardous pay, talking on the phone to their gf back home whos sleeping with every guy in town. Sounds stressful. PTSS is a joke.
He's saluting his friend. Telling him he loves him.BlackFalkin wrote:"taps his heart twice, then salutes."
I'd love for you to meet my buddie's that are going back over there for the 3rd time in September. Talk like this to them and you'll be talking to St. Peter.BlackFalkin wrote:I wonder what those guys do all day. Stand around and take pictures holding up a griz banner, eating MREs, laying around in tents, shooting at rocks, collecting hazardous pay, talking on the phone to their gf back home whos sleeping with every guy in town. Sounds stressful. PTSS is a joke.
Classic.Willie wrote:
I'd love for you to meet my buddie's that are going back over there for the 3rd time in September. Talk like this to them and you'll be talking to St. Peter.
You have talent???BlackFalkin wrote:Classic.Willie wrote:
I'd love for you to meet my buddie's that are going back over there for the 3rd time in September. Talk like this to them and you'll be talking to St. Peter.
But seriously...ME? ..Serve? I'd rather not, I got my school paid for by using talent, not army handouts. Im not going to *RISK MY LIFE* just to get 50k worth of college....Im much too smart for that. btw how do you think I know soooo much about the army? You guessed it! Some poor schmuck's hazard pay is going straight to my bank account. Not only that, hes letting his "gf" convince him into going back for a second tour! CHA-CHING!
Screamin_Eagle174 wrote:Yeah, everyone knows the real war is being fought on the streets.BlackFalkin wrote:"taps his heart twice, then salutes." - Corny. Its a war on "terrorism"
Someone needs to either take their meds or find some meds, there is no hand out and they get paid for crap.BlackFalkin wrote:Classic.Willie wrote:
I'd love for you to meet my buddie's that are going back over there for the 3rd time in September. Talk like this to them and you'll be talking to St. Peter.
But seriously...ME? ..Serve? I'd rather not, I got my school paid for by using talent, not army handouts. Im not going to *RISK MY LIFE* just to get 50k worth of college....Im much too smart for that. btw how do you think I know soooo much about the army? You guessed it! Some poor schmuck's hazard pay is going straight to my bank account. Not only that, hes letting his "gf" convince him into going back for a second tour! CHA-CHING!
Then shut the fuck up about the troops. Go jerk off at a communist party or something, Jesus.BlackFalkin wrote:Classic.Willie wrote:
I'd love for you to meet my buddie's that are going back over there for the 3rd time in September. Talk like this to them and you'll be talking to St. Peter.
But seriously...ME? ..Serve? I'd rather not, I got my school paid for by using talent, not army handouts. Im not going to *RISK MY LIFE* just to get 50k worth of college....Im much too smart for that. btw how do you think I know soooo much about the army? You guessed it! Some poor schmuck's hazard pay is going straight to my bank account. Not only that, hes letting his "gf" convince him into going back for a second tour! CHA-CHING!
Did you really expect anything else from him? Really?Willie wrote:Then shut the fuck up about the troops. Go jerk off at a communist party or something, Jesus.BlackFalkin wrote:
Classic.
But seriously...ME? ..Serve? I'd rather not, I got my school paid for by using talent, not army handouts. Im not going to *RISK MY LIFE* just to get 50k worth of college....Im much too smart for that. btw how do you think I know soooo much about the army? You guessed it! Some poor schmuck's hazard pay is going straight to my bank account. Not only that, hes letting his "gf" convince him into going back for a second tour! CHA-CHING!
what a pussy.BlackFalkin wrote:I wonder what those guys do all day. Stand around and take pictures holding up a griz banner, eating MREs, laying around in tents, shooting at rocks, collecting hazardous pay, talking on the phone to their gf back home whos sleeping with every guy in town. Sounds stressful. PTSS is a joke.
Amen to you buddy.expandspanos wrote:I hope we all support our troops by trying to get them back from all foreign countries as soon as possible and ending this Afghanistan b.s. (the next Iraq), as our nation is broke and the wars on the other side of the world aren't helping things.
Too many tours will make a person insane and Our soldiers deserve better.
The military is to be used only when our national defense is threatened. The guys who did 9/11 are all dead, so there isnt' an enemy exept for supposed "insurgents" who are mostly people trying to protect their home country. Hiring Xe (Blackwater) is very expensive and not a good idea because we circumvent our military chain of command, and they get away with anything they want.
So, it's time to end the wars and give our soldiers (many on their sixth tours) rest.
Why is it that attention whores always seem to get the attention, but I feel like the whore? GFYBlackFalkin wrote:Classic.Willie wrote:
I'd love for you to meet my buddie's that are going back over there for the 3rd time in September. Talk like this to them and you'll be talking to St. Peter.
But seriously...ME? ..Serve? I'd rather not, I got my school paid for by using talent, not army handouts. Im not going to *RISK MY LIFE* just to get 50k worth of college....Im much too smart for that. btw how do you think I know soooo much about the army? You guessed it! Some poor schmuck's hazard pay is going straight to my bank account. Not only that, hes letting his "gf" convince him into going back for a second tour! CHA-CHING!
