The 125th Anniversary of Army vs Navy Football

The Army vs. Navy football game is special for me. My dad left the Navy when I was 7 years old. He was an enlisted sailor during WWII in the Submarine Service. He left the Navy as an officer with a full commission. Instead of USNR at the end of his name it was USN.

As a Baby Boomer, even though in the first seven years of my life seeing my dad and others in uniform was the norm, after my dad left the Navy, the military presence was still strong. Friends of my parents had served during WWII. My first scoutmaster was a member of a B-17 crew that was shot down over Germany. He lost several fingers to flack and tried to get beyond the wire of his POW camp twice. Another was a Marine who was wounded in the battle of Guadalcanal campaign. A second scoutmaster served in the Pacific on LSTs, a ship with a shallow draft to land troops and equipment on enemy beaches. He said that LST meant Large Slow Target, not Landing Ship Tank.

There is a lot of noise about the college football playoffs, but the Army-Navy game is just as important to me. CBS Sports covered the full Corp of Cadets and Midshipmen March onto the field as well as the game. Young men and women who have to study and make a commitment to serve in the armed forces. That is refreshing to see when you think of some of the nonsense in academia.