Lieutenant Colonel Greg Gadson lost his legs to an IED when his convoy was hit in Baghdad on May 7, 2007. A week before the tragic event, the battalion commander made the following statement to a reporter in Baghdad…
“We could build a fortress around ourselves that no one can penetrate, but then we will have lost,” said Lt. Col. Greg Gadson, who commands the 2nd Battalion, 32nd Field Artillery.
Several months following that tragic event, the former battalion commander met with the New York Football Giants on the eve of a big game against the Washington Redskins.
“I just spoke from the heart, as a soldier and as a former football player,” he said, “for about 10 or 15 minutes. I talked to them about appreciating the opportunities in their lives, how special and privileged they were, how everybody needs to understand what they truly have. And I talked to them about the power of sports in people’s lives, especially soldiers’ lives, how many times I’d watched soldiers get up in the middle of the night after a 12-hour shift if there is a chance to watch a game, or how soldiers would do anything to watch a game before they went on that kind of shift.
“I told them that of course after all the exteriors had been stripped away, they played the game for themselves. But that they had to play the game for each other. Then I talked about myself, how my old teammates came to my need, and how I was reminded again the power of a team, the emotional commitment teammates have for each other, that when a team finds a way to do things greater than they thought they could do, that they couldn’t have done individually, that a bond is formed that can live forever.
“I told them that truly great teams usually form that bond by going through something together, and how whatever they were going through at that point in the season that no success ever came easy. And finally I reminded them that nothing is promised to anybody in this life, starting with tomorrow.”
The New York Giants haven’t lost a game since. In fact, they’ve won 10 straight away games and find themselves in the Super Bowl. LTC Gadson is indeed an inspiration, not just to football players, but to us all. Sgt Hook out.
Posted by Hook @ 0634 zulu | | Permalink
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