Post by MizzouTiger on Feb 9, 2008 12:32:05 GMT -5
www.kansascity.com/sports/story/479020.html
More at stake than football for some recruits
By TEREZ A. PAYLOR
The Kansas City Star
Capt. Chris Hill Sr. watches intently from the stands as his son, Chris Jr., races up and down the court.
It’s Feb. 1, and Chris Jr., a senior guard on Lansing’s basketball team, is trying to help the Lions beat Basehor-Linwood. Chris Sr., an Army military intelligence officer, savors every moment while his wife, Carla, and their three youngest children sit nearby.
He knows these nights of watching his son play high school sports will all too soon come to an end.
Chris Jr., a 5-foot-11, 193-pound running back, recently committed to Navy to play Division I football. In that sense, he is no different from the thousands of high school seniors across America who signed letters of intent to play football on Wednesday, the first day of the official signing period.
But the commitment made by Hill, Blue Valley West’s Aaron Ashley and Rockhurst’s Jake Arbanas are to service academies, where there is much more at stake.
Those three, and others who make similar decisions, face a near-certain five-year military commitment upon graduation in four years. With the country still at war, it could be a decision that leads them directly into Afghanistan, Iraq or another danger spot in a matter of years.
“It’s a possibility,” said Chris Sr., who has been deployed just once during his 12 years in the military. “As long as you’re in the service, you understand that. The sooner you come to terms with it, the easier it is to deal with.”
•••
Aaron Ashley thinks he has a good idea of what he can expect when he steps on Air Force’s campus this summer. He can thank his grandpa for that.
Ashley, a 6-foot-1, 210-pound receiver/safety, will be following in the footsteps of his grandfather, who served in the Air Force.
“My grandpa said it’s different than any other college,” Ashley said. “But being able to do something I love (football) will keep me excited about it.”
That’s good, because there will be plenty of challenges along the way. Freshmen, known as plebes in the Army and Navy, are traditionally given a hard time by upperclassmen and sometimes struggle to adjust to the challenging academic curriculum, strict rules and basic training.
And then there’s that not-so-little matter of mandatory military service. Once candidates graduate from the service academies, they have to serve a minimum 5-year military commitment, during which they can be deployed to war at any time.
However, Ashley is confident he would be OK if that were to happen. The chance to play D-I football, get a top-notch education and leadership training is worth the risk.
“It doesn’t really bother me,” Ashley said. “It’s a risk you take for your country; it’s something you’ve got to do. For all the opportunities that come with it, you’ve got to take the bad with the good, I guess.”
Chris Jr. isn’t concerned about the possibility of deployment. Like his father, he says he would consider it an honor to serve his country.
“The mandatory service time didn’t faze me at all,” Chris Jr. said. “I just saw it as something I had to do if I wanted to play D-I and get a good education.”
Chris Jr. and Ashley each drew attention from other D-I schools, but the only firm offers they received came from military schools. However, they are the lucky ones.
With Ashley’s grandfather being a veteran and Hill’s dad being a career military man, they each had immediate family members who could fill them in on what they could expect during their time in the service, which helped them with their decision.
It was the kind of luxury that Jake Arbanas, an Army commitment, and his parents didn’t have.
•••
Like Ashley and Hill, Arbanas would like to play in the NFL one day.
That much is no surprise, considering his grandfather, Fred, was a tight end on the Chiefs’ 1969 Super Bowl team and his father Mike played for Kansas in the early ’80s.
But his parents can’t say the same thing about their initial reaction to his interest in the military. For Arbanas, a 6-foot-5, 188-pound senior tight end who is listed as a two-star prospect on Rivals.com, what started out as a boyhood fascination with G.I. Joe action figures could lead him straight to West Point.
He’s known he has wanted to go into the military since his freshman year of high school, so he didn’t really entertain any other schools. Whether he got a chance to play football or not, a military academy was for him.
And after attending summer leadership seminars at Army and Navy last summer, Arbanas has little doubt he’s making the best choice for his future.
“I think about how these next four years will affect the rest of my life, but it doesn’t really worry me because being in the military is more of a pride thing for me,” said Arbanas, who is still trying to decide whether he wants to make the military his career.
“This sets me up for the rest of my life. I’ll have a good job for the rest of my life and I’ll be able to say I went to West Point.”
It’s a decision that makes his parents both proud and nervous. Mike says they are comfortable with the risk Jake is taking because of the education and discipline he stands to gain, but admit they worry about what the looming war in Iraq will mean for their son in four years.
It doesn’t help that Jake is talking about joining the infantry or special forces after he completes his four-year degree at West Point. He’ll be an officer at that time, and his mother, Jenny, hopes he follows a career path in the Army that takes him away from direct combat. But she knows he wants to fight.
“It’s always been out there, but I try not to think about that,” she said. “But I know when the time comes, I’ll be a basket case.
“I’d be praying every day that everything turns out OK.”
Gary Ashley, Aaron’s father, gets a little worried about his son, too. But he agrees with the Arbanas’ belief that this is the best decision for his son.
“Oh yeah, I worry,” he said. “But you know what? You worry about your kids when they drive off in their cars, too.”
•••
Back at Basehor-Linwood, Lansing is still trailing in the third quarter of its basketball game.
Chris Jr. is on the bench, and Chris Sr. is sitting down, too. He’s having a blast spending time with his family, because it certainly beats the alternative.
Chris Sr. remembers how tough it was to leave his family when he was deployed to Afghanistan from March 2004 to February 2005. It was hard on everybody, especially Carla, who had to take care of their four children by herself.
“Nobody wants to leave their wife, nobody wants to leave their kids,” said Chris Sr. “It makes you understand just how precious your time is together. (Chris Jr.) will get a better understanding of that.”
Family is so important to Chris Sr. that when he finishes his tour of duty at the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth in June, he hopes to move his family to the Washington, D.C. area so they can be close to their son at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.
Whether that happens or not, Chris Sr. and Carla are comfortable with their son’s college decision. But they’re still parents – they can’t help but think about Chris Jr.’s future.
Carla is asked about the role that faith has played in their son’s college decision. She stares at her son, who is still sitting on the bench, and says that she and her husband had been praying since the beginning of the recruiting process that Chris Jr.’s college decision would be easy for him.
Ultimately, it was. And that was a relief.
“We don’t believe in things just happening,” she says, softly, her eyes still fixated on her oldest son. “They happen for a reason.”
More at stake than football for some recruits
By TEREZ A. PAYLOR
The Kansas City Star
Capt. Chris Hill Sr. watches intently from the stands as his son, Chris Jr., races up and down the court.
It’s Feb. 1, and Chris Jr., a senior guard on Lansing’s basketball team, is trying to help the Lions beat Basehor-Linwood. Chris Sr., an Army military intelligence officer, savors every moment while his wife, Carla, and their three youngest children sit nearby.
He knows these nights of watching his son play high school sports will all too soon come to an end.
Chris Jr., a 5-foot-11, 193-pound running back, recently committed to Navy to play Division I football. In that sense, he is no different from the thousands of high school seniors across America who signed letters of intent to play football on Wednesday, the first day of the official signing period.
But the commitment made by Hill, Blue Valley West’s Aaron Ashley and Rockhurst’s Jake Arbanas are to service academies, where there is much more at stake.
Those three, and others who make similar decisions, face a near-certain five-year military commitment upon graduation in four years. With the country still at war, it could be a decision that leads them directly into Afghanistan, Iraq or another danger spot in a matter of years.
“It’s a possibility,” said Chris Sr., who has been deployed just once during his 12 years in the military. “As long as you’re in the service, you understand that. The sooner you come to terms with it, the easier it is to deal with.”
•••
Aaron Ashley thinks he has a good idea of what he can expect when he steps on Air Force’s campus this summer. He can thank his grandpa for that.
Ashley, a 6-foot-1, 210-pound receiver/safety, will be following in the footsteps of his grandfather, who served in the Air Force.
“My grandpa said it’s different than any other college,” Ashley said. “But being able to do something I love (football) will keep me excited about it.”
That’s good, because there will be plenty of challenges along the way. Freshmen, known as plebes in the Army and Navy, are traditionally given a hard time by upperclassmen and sometimes struggle to adjust to the challenging academic curriculum, strict rules and basic training.
And then there’s that not-so-little matter of mandatory military service. Once candidates graduate from the service academies, they have to serve a minimum 5-year military commitment, during which they can be deployed to war at any time.
However, Ashley is confident he would be OK if that were to happen. The chance to play D-I football, get a top-notch education and leadership training is worth the risk.
“It doesn’t really bother me,” Ashley said. “It’s a risk you take for your country; it’s something you’ve got to do. For all the opportunities that come with it, you’ve got to take the bad with the good, I guess.”
Chris Jr. isn’t concerned about the possibility of deployment. Like his father, he says he would consider it an honor to serve his country.
“The mandatory service time didn’t faze me at all,” Chris Jr. said. “I just saw it as something I had to do if I wanted to play D-I and get a good education.”
Chris Jr. and Ashley each drew attention from other D-I schools, but the only firm offers they received came from military schools. However, they are the lucky ones.
With Ashley’s grandfather being a veteran and Hill’s dad being a career military man, they each had immediate family members who could fill them in on what they could expect during their time in the service, which helped them with their decision.
It was the kind of luxury that Jake Arbanas, an Army commitment, and his parents didn’t have.
•••
Like Ashley and Hill, Arbanas would like to play in the NFL one day.
That much is no surprise, considering his grandfather, Fred, was a tight end on the Chiefs’ 1969 Super Bowl team and his father Mike played for Kansas in the early ’80s.
But his parents can’t say the same thing about their initial reaction to his interest in the military. For Arbanas, a 6-foot-5, 188-pound senior tight end who is listed as a two-star prospect on Rivals.com, what started out as a boyhood fascination with G.I. Joe action figures could lead him straight to West Point.
He’s known he has wanted to go into the military since his freshman year of high school, so he didn’t really entertain any other schools. Whether he got a chance to play football or not, a military academy was for him.
And after attending summer leadership seminars at Army and Navy last summer, Arbanas has little doubt he’s making the best choice for his future.
“I think about how these next four years will affect the rest of my life, but it doesn’t really worry me because being in the military is more of a pride thing for me,” said Arbanas, who is still trying to decide whether he wants to make the military his career.
“This sets me up for the rest of my life. I’ll have a good job for the rest of my life and I’ll be able to say I went to West Point.”
It’s a decision that makes his parents both proud and nervous. Mike says they are comfortable with the risk Jake is taking because of the education and discipline he stands to gain, but admit they worry about what the looming war in Iraq will mean for their son in four years.
It doesn’t help that Jake is talking about joining the infantry or special forces after he completes his four-year degree at West Point. He’ll be an officer at that time, and his mother, Jenny, hopes he follows a career path in the Army that takes him away from direct combat. But she knows he wants to fight.
“It’s always been out there, but I try not to think about that,” she said. “But I know when the time comes, I’ll be a basket case.
“I’d be praying every day that everything turns out OK.”
Gary Ashley, Aaron’s father, gets a little worried about his son, too. But he agrees with the Arbanas’ belief that this is the best decision for his son.
“Oh yeah, I worry,” he said. “But you know what? You worry about your kids when they drive off in their cars, too.”
•••
Back at Basehor-Linwood, Lansing is still trailing in the third quarter of its basketball game.
Chris Jr. is on the bench, and Chris Sr. is sitting down, too. He’s having a blast spending time with his family, because it certainly beats the alternative.
Chris Sr. remembers how tough it was to leave his family when he was deployed to Afghanistan from March 2004 to February 2005. It was hard on everybody, especially Carla, who had to take care of their four children by herself.
“Nobody wants to leave their wife, nobody wants to leave their kids,” said Chris Sr. “It makes you understand just how precious your time is together. (Chris Jr.) will get a better understanding of that.”
Family is so important to Chris Sr. that when he finishes his tour of duty at the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth in June, he hopes to move his family to the Washington, D.C. area so they can be close to their son at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.
Whether that happens or not, Chris Sr. and Carla are comfortable with their son’s college decision. But they’re still parents – they can’t help but think about Chris Jr.’s future.
Carla is asked about the role that faith has played in their son’s college decision. She stares at her son, who is still sitting on the bench, and says that she and her husband had been praying since the beginning of the recruiting process that Chris Jr.’s college decision would be easy for him.
Ultimately, it was. And that was a relief.
“We don’t believe in things just happening,” she says, softly, her eyes still fixated on her oldest son. “They happen for a reason.”