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Detroit Lions Draft Army Lieutenant
This weekend the Detroit Lions drafted a recent West Point graduate, Army strong safety Caleb Campbell. It appears this is creating a stir in some parts of the media, with many outlets reporting that he is being “spared serving in Iraq” by being allowed to enter the NFL. Curious about the Army’s rules regarding this, I found the following on CBS Sportsline:
What Army has done is offer its top athletes a side door to professional sports. West Point has implemented an alternative service option program that allows cadets to turn pro — and play — right away. Cadets accepted into the program “will owe two years of active service in the Army, during which time they will be allowed to play their sport in the player-development systems of their respective organizations and be assigned to recruiting stations. If they remain in professional sports following those two years, they will be provided the option of buying out the remaining three years of their active-duty commitment in exchange for six years of reserve time.”
If Campbell desires to play for the Lions I think he is completely justified in doing so. He is following the rules the Army has laid out for circumstances such as these, and can hardly be faulted for that. Understanding and using the policies of the systems to which you belong is an important part of life, not just the NFL draft. It looks like the Army is going to keep him on the hook as an active duty recruiter and then allow him to buy out the rest of his active duty commitment if he maintains his NFL career. However, as an NFL player I hardly think his “active duty” service will be 40-hours per week like a standard servicemember. However, if the Army has signed off on it, more power to him.
Furthermore, he is not being “spared serving in Iraq.” You cannot determine with any certainty whether Campbell would go to Iraq. Certainly, it is likely, but there are plenty of service members in non-deployable jobs that do not go. There are also some criticizing Campbell for seeking the position with the Lions instead of becoming a run-of-the-mill active duty lieutenant. I can’t help but think that detractors are playing the game of “everyone should have to sacrifice as much as me/my son/my friend/people I’ve seen on the news but know nothing about.” This is a great opportunity for a young man and the Army. You can easily train one more lieutenant in the next OCS class. It’s more difficult to get service members into NFL uniforms and get outstanding PR every Sunday on national TV. How many new lieutenants will that create?
He’ll be more likely to deploy while in the reserve component anyway. My buddy in the Guard leaves for his third deployment six weeks from now.