'They Can't Put on a Uniform and Fight Us, Man to Man'

Great story of a former college linebacker who's grown into a man while serving his nation.

Finding meaning amid danger

For the players who think a 5-4 record is an unimaginable crisis, for the fans ready to rip up their season tickets in anger, for anyone who believes Rutgers' struggles on the football field are the end of the world, we offer this bit of perspective:

In less than two months, former linebacker Berkeley Hutchinson and his battalion from Fort Carson, Colo., will deploy for Iraq, his second tour of duty. And if this one is anything like the first one...

"My buddy got shot in the shoulder one day," Hutchinson told me this summer in between training exercises. His unit had been patrolling a town where about 30 Iraqis had been killed and another 50 were injured in a bombing.

"The first time you see somebody get shot, you think, 'Every time we see action, man, somebody is going to get killed,'" he remembered. "But it was a lucky shot by a sniper, and my buddy had all the protection the army gave us. He's all right. We got really lucky.

"You hear about this stuff every day in the news. All they're doing is putting out IEDs, roadside bombs, stuff like that. They're trying to blow us up because they can't fight. They can't put on a uniform and fight us, man to man."

Hutchinson once was a 6-3, 235-pound outside linebacker from Long Branch High, the best recruit coach Greg Schiano had ever signed when he arrived at Rutgers in 2002.

Today, Hutchinson is a soldier in the 2nd Squadron of the 9th Cavalry in the 4th Infantry Division, a squadron nicknamed "Hunters." His tasks have included training the Iraqi police and cleaning up after suicide bombings, picking up body parts.

"He has seen some things you just can't describe," his high school coach, Dan George, said.

Rutgers will travel to West Point, N.Y., to play Army on Friday, a trip that always serves as a reminder about priorities. The Parade of Cadets begins three hours before kickoff on the Plain, a huge expanse of lawn between the Hudson River and the barracks. Thousands of fans will be in their seats to watch the cadets march into Michie Stadium, and "The Star-Spangled Banner" never resonates more than when the Army band plays it.

Lately, of course, there is also this reality: Many of the home team players will face gunfire once they graduate. Occasionally, so do the visitors.

Read the rest.

If you've never been to West Point for a game, I highly recommend it.