All-American Athletes

Photo By Staff Sgt. Matt Leary | Waiting to swing on the pitch, Spc. Alex Gould, a forward observer with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, competes in a softball game on May 20 as part of All-American Week. Gould, a 20-year-old native of Olathe, Kan., and his fellow troopers from HHC were playing in the 4th BCT softball tournament against the 782nd Brigade Support Battalion.  

FORT BRAGG, NC, UNITED STATES

05.21.2009

Story by Sgt. Stephen Decatur 

4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division Public Affairs

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — Sometimes a football game is more than just a game. Although tens of millions of Americans watch the Super Bowl every year, at the end of the day, it's just a game. But when paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division participated in sporting events during All-American Week on May 18 to May 21 on Fort Bragg, they knew that one day they might have to depend on their fellow players in combat.

Although this year's All-American Week was scaled-down because of deployments in the division, the most important elements, like team-building, esprit de corps and fun, were still on the schedule.

"Sports bring the team closer and give young Joes the opportunity to see what teamwork is," said Sgt. Jonathon Clements of Company B, 782nd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Abn. Div. "All-American Week brings everyone together in the whole division."

Much of this year's All-American Week consisted of athletic events such as the division run, 10-kilometer and 5-kilometer foot races, softball, volleyball and football.

Pfc. Justin Schmidt of Company B, 782nd BSB, 4th BCT, 82nd Abn. Div., felt that team-building events were one of the most important parts of All-American Week, he said.

"If [your fellow paratroopers] watch your back on the field, then they'll watch your back overseas," Schmidt said.

For units preparing to deploy, the week was also one of the last chances paratroopers would have to come together as a team to do something fun.

"It's good for everyone to take a break," Clements said. "Especially with the upcoming deployment, it's an opportunity to clear our minds."

Perhaps the most important reason why paratroopers participate in All-American week is because they are proud of the division's legacy.

"It's a tradition," said 2nd Lt. Paige Porchia of Company A, 782nd BSB. "It gives us a sense of honor by doing what those who came before us did. We've held on to our values as a division. Despite the war, we've still set aside time to come together."

Whether paratroopers were calling cadence in a division run, squaring off with other brigades in a game of football or pummeling each other in an unarmed combat tournament, they were building pride in the paratroopers they serve with today, and the paratroopers who came before them.

"There's so much pride being able to say that you've got that patch on your shoulder and those wings on your chest," Schmidt said. "Wherever you go, people will know who you are."

• Date Taken: 05.21.2009
• Date Posted: 05.21.2009 10:59
• Story ID: 33899
• Location: FORT BRAGG, NC, US