Cool article.
http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2009/10/14/sports/20sports_10-14-09.txt
UW's special teams honors Special Forces
By Bob Hammond
For the Wyoming Tribune Eagle
LARAMIE -- When the University of Wyoming takes the field Saturday at Falcon Stadium, not only will it have to battle a talented Air Force football team, but it will have several thousand cadets and a ton of AFA brass to deal with also.
But the Cowboys won't be alone in their endeavor.
Prowling the sideline with the Cowboys will be half a dozen members of the 10th Special Forces Group Airborne (ABN), stationed at nearby Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, Colo.
The Wyoming football team and the country's Green Berets have formed a special bond.
Ever since Dave Christensen took over the UW program, he has referred to his special teams as the "Special Forces," in honor of our country's elite military unit.
"Somewhere along the line they caught wind of what we are doing and I was contacted by Jerry Baldwin, the head of the Special Forces Association Cowboy Chapter 71 out of Cheyenne," Christensen said. "They wanted to visit us and make a special presentation so we had them over as guests."
So, last Friday afternoon two active duty Green Berets from the 10th Special Forces Group, along with three former Green Berets with the SFA Cowboy Chapter, and a Green Beret captain in the Wyoming ROTC Department, met with Christensen.
They presented him and the Cowboy football team with a Special Forces flag and a shadow box containing a number of SFA items, including a symbolic Green Beret once worn by a fallen Green Beret in Afghanistan.
The shadow box is now on display near the football office in the Rochelle Athletics Center.
"We wanted to do something because Wyoming is the only school ever to honor the Special Forces publicly," Baldwin said.
Wyoming's recognition of the Special Forces was forwarded to all the Special Forces Groups serving in 39 countries worldwide, and in turn received many responses.
Christensen even received a letter from Brigadier General Michael S. Repass, the commanding general of the U.S. Army Special Forces Command (Airborne) at Fort Bragg, N.C.
The Green Berets remained with Christensen and the team at the hotel on Friday and were on the sidelines for the New Mexico game and even in the locker room at halftime with the Cowboys.
"I had talked to our team about the Special Forces, where the term came from, why it is an important term, and why we refer to our special teams as Special Forces," Christensen said.
"Just having them here as a living testimony was a great example for our kids."
And with the presentation, began a new Cowboy tradition. The Cowboys entered the field Saturday against New Mexico carrying two flags - a United States Special Forces Flag and a Wyoming State Flag.
The U.S. Special Forces Flag will now be carried onto the field each week by the Cowboy player who has scored the most points as a special teams player the previous week.
The first week, the honor went to freshman Luke Ruff for his performance in the Florida Atlantic game. "It's honorable just to have them recognize us," Ruff said. "We call our special teams the Special Forces because we want to show how important it is. Those guys do an amazing thing for our country."
http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2009/10/14/sports/20sports_10-14-09.txt
UW's special teams honors Special Forces
By Bob Hammond
For the Wyoming Tribune Eagle
LARAMIE -- When the University of Wyoming takes the field Saturday at Falcon Stadium, not only will it have to battle a talented Air Force football team, but it will have several thousand cadets and a ton of AFA brass to deal with also.
But the Cowboys won't be alone in their endeavor.
Prowling the sideline with the Cowboys will be half a dozen members of the 10th Special Forces Group Airborne (ABN), stationed at nearby Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, Colo.
The Wyoming football team and the country's Green Berets have formed a special bond.
Ever since Dave Christensen took over the UW program, he has referred to his special teams as the "Special Forces," in honor of our country's elite military unit.
"Somewhere along the line they caught wind of what we are doing and I was contacted by Jerry Baldwin, the head of the Special Forces Association Cowboy Chapter 71 out of Cheyenne," Christensen said. "They wanted to visit us and make a special presentation so we had them over as guests."
So, last Friday afternoon two active duty Green Berets from the 10th Special Forces Group, along with three former Green Berets with the SFA Cowboy Chapter, and a Green Beret captain in the Wyoming ROTC Department, met with Christensen.
They presented him and the Cowboy football team with a Special Forces flag and a shadow box containing a number of SFA items, including a symbolic Green Beret once worn by a fallen Green Beret in Afghanistan.
The shadow box is now on display near the football office in the Rochelle Athletics Center.
"We wanted to do something because Wyoming is the only school ever to honor the Special Forces publicly," Baldwin said.
Wyoming's recognition of the Special Forces was forwarded to all the Special Forces Groups serving in 39 countries worldwide, and in turn received many responses.
Christensen even received a letter from Brigadier General Michael S. Repass, the commanding general of the U.S. Army Special Forces Command (Airborne) at Fort Bragg, N.C.
The Green Berets remained with Christensen and the team at the hotel on Friday and were on the sidelines for the New Mexico game and even in the locker room at halftime with the Cowboys.
"I had talked to our team about the Special Forces, where the term came from, why it is an important term, and why we refer to our special teams as Special Forces," Christensen said.
"Just having them here as a living testimony was a great example for our kids."
And with the presentation, began a new Cowboy tradition. The Cowboys entered the field Saturday against New Mexico carrying two flags - a United States Special Forces Flag and a Wyoming State Flag.
The U.S. Special Forces Flag will now be carried onto the field each week by the Cowboy player who has scored the most points as a special teams player the previous week.
The first week, the honor went to freshman Luke Ruff for his performance in the Florida Atlantic game. "It's honorable just to have them recognize us," Ruff said. "We call our special teams the Special Forces because we want to show how important it is. Those guys do an amazing thing for our country."
