Former Giant Cheers Team From Afghanistan
Face of
Defense: Former Giant Cheers Team from Afghanistan
Mon, 4 Feb 2008 08:27:00
-0600
The New York Giants and New England Patriots each had plenty of rooters here,
but one soldier assigned to Combined Joint Task Force 82 took special pride in
the Giants' stunning 17-14 upset of the previously unbeaten Patriots.
Face of Defense: Former Giant Cheers Team from Afghanistan
By Sgt. Jim
Wilt, USA
Special to American Forces Press Service
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, Feb. 4, 2008 - As millions of Americans
gathered around their televisions to watch Super Bowl XLII last night,
servicemembers here rolled out of beds, cots or sleeping bags to watch the big
game in the early morning hours.
Rivers, a resident of Anchorage,
Ala., was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1979 after a successful college
career as a quarterback at South Carolina State University. Shortly thereafter,
he was traded to the Giants. Rivers said he was with the Giants for two years
before being traded again to the Baltimore Colts, where he ended his career in
1981 as a wide receiver.
After a stint on injured reserve, Rivers said,
he knew his career was over. "I knew I needed to move on," he said. He'd seen
players trying hold on to the sport after their time was over. "I just decided I
wasn't going to do that," he said.
Less than a week later, he was
standing with his right hand raised at an Army recruiter's office.
"I
told the recruiter I wanted the hardest thing out there," Rivers recalled. He
found himself at Fort Benning, Ga., training to be an infantryman.
"The
Army provided me the opportunity to be on the 'first team,'" he said.
"Twenty-six years later, that is why I am still on the 'first team.' The Army
offered me a better deal."
Rivers still has good memories about his days
as a professional football player, including flattening a future hall-of-famer
in practice.
"I was there for Lawrence Taylor's rookie year," he said.
"I don't think too many people can say they knocked him on his back and
stood over him and said 'Get up, Rook.'"
Nate Rivers never became a
household name, but he's still proud of his gridiron accomplishments. "Reporting
to (training) camp is a feat in itself," he said.
Playing pro football
and becoming an officer in the Army are two accomplishments many people would be
proud of. But they are not the icing on Rivers' cake, as far as he's concerned.
"The most important (accomplishment) in my mind is when I got my college
degree," he said.
Even as Rivers watched his old team win the world
championship, he still remembered why he is here.
"This is a Super Bowl
here, too," he said. "There is a winner and loser, and God forbid we come out on
the losing end in the war on terror."
(Army Sgt. Jim Wilt serves in
public affairs with Combined Joint Task Force 82.)
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