Naval Academy sports teams face a disadvantage when competing against rival Army because the U.S. Military Academy is allowing its graduates to play professional sports instead of serving their country on the battlefield.
Army, Navy and Air Force students serve a mandatory five years ? their active duty service obligation ? following graduation. Not all graduates are placed in combat or on the front lines, but all are commissioned as officers and assigned to a different post.
Unless they happen to be a good Army athlete.
Army, which cites an April 2005 memorandum from the secretary of the Army obtained by The Examiner, is allowing Caleb Campbell, drafted last weekend by the Detroit Lions, and classmate Mike Viti, who signed as an undrafted free agent with the Buffalo Bills, to serve by using their “unique talents” to bring attention to West Point.
“Personnel who believe they may benefit the Department of the Army by using their unique talents outside the Army may submit a request for release from active duty,” states a memo signed by Francis J. Harvey, who was Army secretary when the policy was written.
Campbell and Viti, however, must first honor at least 24 months of their service obligation. But Army is allowing them to serve their two-year minimum as military recruiters in the region of their pro team, using them as a marketing tool.
But Navy and Air Force school officials are upset with Army?s interpretation, claiming they follow a memorandum from the office of the undersecretary. The document, which took effect Jan. 1, states, “Officers may apply for excess leave after serving a minimum of 24 months … for the purpose of pursuing a professional sports activity with the potential recruiting or public affairs benefits for the Department.”
“It puts us at a disadvantage because Army now can tell recruits that if you are good enough, you can go directly into professional athletics,” said Chet Gladchuk, Navy?s athletics director. “That?s not the case at the Naval Academy.”
But Campbell, who has spent four years getting his education paid for by tax dollars, like all service academy students, said he does not need a gun to serve his country.
“A lot of people have a misnomer that if you don?t have bullets flying at your head in a time of war, you aren?t doing your part,” Campbell said.
Three years ago, however, when Navy?s best football player, Kyle Eckel, tried to play in the NFL, he had to get kicked out of the Navy so he could play for the New England Patriots, according to a source close to the situation.
“The secretary of defense had a policy in place, and we thought we were all playing by the same rules,” Gladchuk said. “Army has decided they have a little more latitude than we have been allowed.”
Campbell?s and Viti?s paths have become a national story ? one that is causing the Army to review its interpretation of its policy, said Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, a U.S. Military Academy spokesman.
“I understand people can disagree with the politics and have philosophical issues,” he said. “But they cannot say it?s not effective.”
