On the brief that Washington Redskins’ fullback Darrel Young received before he left the country it reads:
“Your job, while touring with the Armed Forces Entertainment and ProTour Productions is to lift the spirits and improve the morale of the troops you perform for.”
Young, Redskins’ tackle James Lee, and Buffalo Bills’ cornerback Drayton Florence all received the brief before taking a trip to support our military service men and women. But it seems that Young came back from this very important trip with the feeling that he’d been given more than he gave. And the things he received will benefit his football team.
The Redskins’ fullback has a unique appreciation of the military life that he witnessed overseas. His brother and sister-in-law are both in the military as well as an uncle who is a career-Navy man. Having watched the effect a deployed family member can have on his parents and siblings, he appreciates the sacrifices that the men and women whom he met make. By the same token, while Young had some idea of what to expect, he was still amazed at what he saw. We all have preconceived notions of what life is like for the troops because of TV and internet images but some of those images misrepresent real life “over there.”
Seeing the life that these men and women live every day and the conditions in which they live them made his appreciation all the more acute. I asked him to describe what he saw while he and the other players were “entertaining” the troops.
“Those folks in the Honduras don’t live in barracks,” Young explained. “What they have is ‘hooches’ which is basically a wood house – like an outhouse basically – the soldiers, that is. It’s a little bit different way of living.”
The trip was organized in such a way that the players were able to really see what “a day in the life” of these men and women was really like. And while Young, Lee and Florence were supposedly there to “entertain” the troops, they wanted to see things through the eyes of the service men and women who were living that life.
Meals were taken with the soldiers and initially, things were set up in a way that separated them from the troops that they were there to see. That didn’t sit well with the NFL players.
“They sat us down the first day with people of a higher rank than the typical soldier,” Young lamented. “But we told them that we wanted everyone to feel like they could hang with us. I mean, we didn’t want to act like celebrities. We just want to mingle with everyone. We weren’t there to choose and be picky about who we sat with at meals. Everyone was in there with us after that first day.
“You know… you think ‘NFL guys’ and you think guys are stuck up and stuff but none of us were like that by any means,” he continued. “I mean, both of the guys I went with came from military families so… “
The players saw some truly interesting things while there… things that were both enviable but yet went totally against their expectations.
“I loved a lot about the camaraderie just because I didn’t realize that the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force have so much to do with each other,” Young told me. “You know, Army: you think ground, you think guns, you think tanks… but they have helicopters and they fly as well. Then with the Navy: you think ships and everything but they have guys that are actually working on land and do things down there and also fly. That was a little different for me because I had no idea that they work so much together. I thought they’d be more separated in their assignments.”
In the Honduras, the troops’ primary mission was drug interdiction. That is a dangerous assignment whether one is in the United States or overseas. The men and women go on missions every day. They are in a poor, dangerous country that knows poverty too well. The service people that the players met were firefighters, soldiers and pilots. They were in the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the Marines. They lived in the most modest of dwellings and did without the most basic necessities that we in the United States take for granted. All of these things affected Young and made an impression he is not likely to forget any time soon.
“You only hear about the big missions that go on,” Young explained, “but these people in the military are trying to stop drugs coming into the country every day. I had no idea that they go on missions every morning. They’re on call 24/7 when they’re deployed.”
As I listened to Young describe his trip, he, at times, sounded like an excited kid. So affected had he been by everything he had seen that even I became keyed up hearing his stories… The players were shown the Blackhawk helicopters used for drug interdiction surveillance and busts (shameless plug: I used to work for a contractor that maintained these drug interdiction aircraft so I was totally interested in this!). They took part in demonstrations with drug sniffing German Shepherds while wearing those padded suits you see on TV. Darrel told me an anecdote about James Lee thinking he could actually outrun one of these highly-trained dogs and was sadly mistaken when he took part in a capture simulation. Fortunately, those padded suits work the way they’re supposed to! They “played with” aircraft electronics and communicated with the flight tower that they were “ready for liftoff…”
They stood out on wings of aircraft that have live ammunition installed and were able to experience a small portion of what some of the troop’s experience.
“We did things like standing on the wing of the plane taking pictures,” Young relayed. “We got to put their parachutes on. I got to put the 50 lb. gear on that they wear out in combat – you know the helmet with an M4 (a carbine semi-automatic assault rifle) in my hand. I was talking to them about running through the brush with that stuff on… I just had a helmet on and I was exhausted. I couldn’t imagine putting all this stuff on and trying to run around.”
This from a fullback in the National Football League who out-runs 300 lbs. defensive linemen!
Experiences like this stay with a person for a long time and I can’t help but think that Young and his fellow NFL mates will be forever changed by the experience.
Some of the things that Young told me were astounding. For instance:
“Those people live to die over there… it’s a little different.”
“It was a little bit of a reality check – you just learn to appreciate some things a little bit more. I can’t tell you how much I wanted water so bad. I mean, you have bottled water but, it’s a little different. You can’t drink out of the faucet; you can’t eat the ice cubes because that’s made from the same water that… it’s all those little things like that.
“We were in a restaurant and there was a little girl… I’ll never forget her. She said, ‘Give me a dollar.’ And we were like, ‘Just like that?? Give you a dollar?’
“She just kept asking and she was 13 years old. She had a baby in her arms and was pregnant with another one. There were actually two of them there and they both were in the same situation, doing the same thing. They both had babies in their arms and they were both pregnant. I was just looking at them thinking, ‘Oh my God.’
“A dollar over there takes them so long to make. I would leave some money over in El Salvador for the room staff and the lady would build this really cool figure with a towel just to say thank you. $2.00 takes them a long way over there. I will always remember that.”
There was time for some fun on the trip. Doing things like playing flag football with the troops was not uncommon and the players established relationships with the people they met. When you see the kind of things they saw, it leaves a mark.
I asked Young about whether he had communicated with any of the folks he met on his trip since he returned.
“I talk to some of them now,” he answered. “Three of them in particular – the guys that basically went around with us – I’ve been emailing with them and they’re coming back to the states. Actually, two of them are stationed in Virginia. Those guys from El Salvador… I love those guys. They were cool. We all would just sit around and just hang out till around 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning. They’re actually going to send me a flight suit. They’re having one custom made for me.”
As might be expected, Young and I didn’t just talk about his trip. There was no way Redskins football wouldn’t enter the conversation and we got around to what the fullback thought of his new quarterback, Robert Griffin, III.
“It will be fun,” Darrel admitted. “He fits into the offense that [offensive coordinator] Kyle [Shanahan] wants to establish in the Redskins organization. I think he’s a quarterback who can run and who’s mobile, but can also throw, you know… deliver passes and make big plays. I think that’s what we’ve been missing out of the offense – big plays and finishing the drive in the red zone. I think rather than some of those interceptions we had last year, maybe he’ll tuck and run or – and that’s not a discredit to anyone it’s just, maybe teams will game plan for us differently and something else will open up and different guys will make big plays.
“I think it will be an exciting year.”
Even with the stories Young has heard from his brother and sister-in-law, it was eye-opening for him to see our military in action and to witness their sacrifice both in lifestyle and in lives. Talking to someone first-hand who has had compatriots die in the field of battle; imagining that the compatriot’s family is going to have two unknown soldiers – in full military uniform – come to their door… well, we all know what that usually means. It changes a person to get to know someone who’s known that.
Asked what he had learned from his trip, Young brought up the positives of entering the military life and summed it up eloquently:
“The military is more about living and dying, basically eating and surviving. Overseas it’s more about life experiences and understanding what people face everyday… you basically become a grown-up in the military. You can be educated by it.
“There’s more to the military than just going to Iraq. I just think people are so focused on what they see on TV that they don’t really see the good things about it… the traveling the world. My brother has been to the Philippines, he’s been to Korea and he’s been to Germany. He was stationed in Hawaii for three years. How many people can say they can travel while being married and are able to take their kids with them?
“I just think people overlook the fact that there’s more to it than just killing.
“If I had to say anything about the military I would definitely say that… would I go? If I had been cut two years ago I was going to join the military.”
Young could have… would have, gone into the military had he not played football. And he likely would have gone to whichever branch’s officer training/candidate school he chose because he has a degree (from Villanova). He is sold on the benefits – the experience – that can be gained; the travel, the incredible things done, the people met and relationships formed. Having had this recent experience, however and, being the brother of a career military man, he doesn’t view the whole thing through rose-colored glasses.
“Does it suck being in Iraq? Yea, of course but someone has to do it. It’s the same type of thing one might say about working at McDonalds. Not many people would want to do it but you don’t knock someone that does.”
With the U.S. at war, a lot of air time is given by the media to the fighting, the bloodshed and the politics of the struggle; it’s possible for the general public to forget about the aspects of the military that don’t have to do with fighting. Young hasn’t.
Having family serving the country – or having an experience like Young, Lee, Florence and Barrett had – brings these aspects of the military more in focus.
“I gained a lot of life experiences and hope to bring that type of camaraderie to the Redskins even more. I think Coach Shanahan is doing a great job of changing that locker room. We need to understand that we need to work together to achieve any goals that we have. No one man can do it all… it has to be a group effort and I think that’s what it’s all about.”
Hail.