Always a Tiger: Keep Movin' Forward

By Mark Miller

Always a Tiger: Keep Movin’ Forward is written from the point of view of a common middle class man. Who, through all of the tragedy had to go to work, deal with middle class financial means, and set an example for his children. The book is an introspective, inspiring, and spiritual memoir of a man whose life’s career as an educator and coach has been dedicated toward the betterment of young people. Mark Miller’s unique personal story involves six different kinds of extreme tragedy: the cancer and death of his wife, Mark’s role in an automobile / motorcycle accident fatality, one murder, two suicides, losing two friends to brain cancer as well as almost losing his family in a single car accident of their own. Yet, through the power of attitude, choice, faith, family, football, and love, Mark has re-married and is trying to be better not bitter. Mark’s story is about the daily impact of his Christian faith, identifying with his family’s military heritage, the blessings of family, friends and loved ones as well as the application of the life lessons of football. Through the empowering attitude of the conscious choice to work to be better and not bitter, it is a testament to the time enduring fact that, even in death, God and love never fail. Always A Tiger: Keep Movin’ Forward is a memoir with direct interest for anybody needing or wanting a new perspective and appreciation about life. Successful leaders know and acknowledge the fact that assistants and subordinates perform most of the work that makes an organization successful. The Pareto Principle states that 20% of the people do 80% of the work within an organization. General Colin Powell and other great military leaders agree that the true status of an organization can be measured by getting feedback from the soldiers. Always A Tiger: Keep Movin’ Forward is written from the perspective of being a Military Dependent, not the solider. The perspective of a coordinator and / or assistant coach, not the head coach. The care giving husband and father, not the cancer patient. Adversity is defined as an unfavorable fortune, event, or circumstance. A Tragedy is a fatal, lamentable, or disastrous event. Priorities and their significance have distorted our views of reality and what is important in life. The purpose of this book is to help people prioritize their lives, identify those priorities significance, isolate the difference between adversity and tragedy, while equipping them with a daily approach and attitude toward life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 15, 2017
• ISBN: 9781684098972

Mark Miller

Mark Miller (BA, Evangel University) is executive pastor at NewSong Church in Cleveland, Ohio, and he consults for other churches on reaching postmoderns, creativity, and leadership. He is the founder of The Jesus Journey, an experiential storytelling retreat that makes the story of the Bible accessible to postmoderns. He is married to Stacey and has two daughters.

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ALWAYS A TIGER

Keep Movin’ Forward

Mark Miller

Copyright © 2017 Mark Miller

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING, INC.

New York, NY

First originally published by Page Publishing, Inc. 2017

ISBN 978-1-68409-896-5 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-68409-897-2 (Digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface

Army Brat

LSU: Love Purple, Live Gold

Dana

GA (Graduate Assistant Coach)

Coach

2007: The Westfield Curse

Friday, 17 April 2009 His name was John…

Saturday, 16 August 2009 Your Girls Have Been in a Wreck. You Need to Go Call Your Dad, Now.

Thursday 6 October 2011It’s Bad, Mark…

Monday, 12 December 2011Choices and Blessings

Friday, 4 May 2012Clinical Trials

July 2012Texas Instinct Softball Nationals

The Disney Dream

Restaging and LSU vs. Ole Miss

Thanksgiving 2012

Friday, 28 December 2012 I cannot, in good conscious continue this treatment.

Hands Up!

Mustang Fight Never Dies

A Memorial Day to Remember

Sunday, 9 June 2013Do you know what’s happening here?

Tuesday, 11 June 2013She’s Asking For You…

Saying Good-Bye

Silver Linings

Mom and Dad,

Anything good in me, I got from ya’ll.

For Amy,

You are the miracle in my life that has loved my heart into mending. You are my silver lining.

For our daughters; Shelby, Erin, Cameron and Kathryn,

You are loved.

May your lives be blessed for you to embrace all that life has to offer.

Keep the faith.

Kaizen

For Dana,

You forever changed my life. Our daughters are loved.

For all those lost, you are remembered.

For all of us still here continuing to fight the good fight.

For all of my family and friends,

Your love and support made my family a shelter to weather the storms.

Thank you is not enough. I had to tell the stories of God’s work you did.

Foreword

In the spring of 2008, I met a young football coach who I had no idea at the time would profoundly change my life forever. They say there are only two types of coaches; those that have been fired and those who are going to be fired. After 20 years spent in high school football in Texas, 12 of those years as a Head Coach, I had just come off of my dream shot and first year as a full-time college coach at a division one football program. Phil Bennett had hired me to coach the offensive tackles and tight ends at SMU. Unfortunately, Coach Bennett was dismissed after the 2007 season thus ending my time of coaching on a collegiate level. However, good fortune was to follow, as I was hired as the Campus Athletic Coordinator/Head Football coach at James E. Taylor high school in the football rich town of Katy, Texas.

Now anyone that knows high school football in the State of Texas knows of the success of the Katy Tiger football program. However, I had just accepted the job at the second high school opened in Katy that being the Taylor Mustangs. Needless to say, our 30 year history of football was much less impressive than the nationally known Katy Tigers. I knew my work was cut out for me if we were going to compete in the talent rich district of Katy ISD, which had grown to six high schools. My first objective was to assemble a staff of experienced, highly knowledgeable coaches who had a great passion for growing young teenagers into quality young men.

I was able to hire Larry Edmondson who was a former teammate at Texas A&M and longtime close friend. Larry and I had begun our coaching careers together as graduate assistants on Jackie Sherrill’s staff at Texas A&M. Larry also coached on Coach Bennett’s staff at SMU when I was hired and decided to join me at Katy Taylor High School as my offensive coordinator. Larry spent his career primarily at the collegiate level with stops at Southern Mississippi, LSU, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Mississippi State, and Auburn.

As Larry and I tried to find the right fit for a defensive coordinator for our staff, he suggested I speak to a young ball coach who was coaching at Spring Westfield High School by the name of Mark Miller. Larry had coached Mark as a walk-on wide receiver at LSU and they had been on the same staff at ULL. I had in my mind I wanted to hire a passionate, high energy, technically sound defensive coordinator who could also serve as my strength and conditioning coach. Mark is a hell of a ball coach Larry said. He is passionate, high energy and addicted to coaching football he went on to say, but Mark is kind of goofy at times. I agreed we needed to interview him.

Fifteen minutes into the interview, I knew two things about Mark. First, he was exactly what I was looking for in a defensive coordinator. Secondly, his Woody Woodpecker laugh explained Larry’s comment Mark is kind of goofy. We spent almost three hours visiting that day discussing his philosophy of playing defense in a sound, aggressive manner, his thoughts on modern day strength and conditioning for high school athletes, and his passion for teaching young men about character and discipline. I also was exposed to Mark’s deep appreciation for our military as he was raised as a military brat and his love for his wife, Dana and his two daughters. But most importantly, his unabashed devotion to his Christian faith and the importance of staying in God’s word.

You are about to take a journey through incredible joy as we immediately turned Taylor football into a playoff program, but also six years of tremendous heartache and soul searching as Mark struggled through personal loss after personal loss. I know of no other man who has had to pick himself up off the mat time after time during a single decade. I have seen Mark at the lowest of lows and through it all he has embraced his faith and just kept moving forward. Mark taught me that I want to lean on Christ more and more because I have seen firsthand how a relationship with Jesus Christ and never turning away from that relationship can take the darkest times imaginable and turn them into blessings.

Mark never once allowed the continual gut punches he took to interfere with his commitment to the athletes he coached and continued to make the 3 hour, 100 mile round trip daily commute from The Woodlands to Katy. I have been so blessed to be a part of Marks incredible journey and cherish the opportunity to get to know his family who has been such a huge support to him. His unselfishness is infectious. I will never forget him saying I did not need to make the long drive to The Woodlands from Katy the night his wife, Dana was dying. I will forever remember the smile he gave me as I left the hospital that night. His thank you to me for coming to be with him can only be repaid by my saying I have learned more from him as I witnessed his walk through his most difficult times.

Always a Tiger, Keep Moving Forward, is a tale of great triumph from personal tragedy that no person should have to endure and I am so honored to have occupied a small part in his journey.

Preface

By the age of forty-three, I have known life like very few people know life. True adversity and tragedy in life can come in many forms. For me, it came in the forms of cancer that claimed my wife, murder, accidental death, and a single car accident that almost killed my family, suicides, and dreams unrealized. Most of which occurred over a seven-year time span. Adversity or tragedy can break you, define you, and make you bitter or better. The power of that choice is yours and yours alone.

Our influences come from how and where we spend our time. My influences came in the form of my Christian faith, family, friends, and media. The unique power and grace embedded within my Christian faith has afforded me a unique perspective on life. Part of that perspective comes in the realization that God’s presence and message has always been timely poignant through his word and people in my life. Another aspect of my perspective is that our life is made up of daily habits and relationships. The influences we choose in our faith, media, and relationships can either empower us or bring us down.

I was blessed to have grown up an army brat. Our family’s average stay at one station was eighteen months. Only those of us who have served, been a military dependent, or a loved one of either, can fully relate to a life of sacrifice, belief in something bigger than oneself, understanding the significance of personal conduct, respect, compassion, empathy, adaptability, and team.

Louisiana State University is home to me. I earned both my college degrees, met the woman who became my wife and the mother of my children, walked on the football team, and began my career there. I love purple and live gold.

I am unsure if a person chooses their life’s passion or if passion chooses them. Through the transient life of an army dependent I was able to find purpose and passion in athletics, specifically football. I am one of the fortunate few that found a career in my passion, coaching football. Coaching football is about relationships. Its primary charge is being a positive influence in the lives of people. Coaching is teaching and teaching is educating. An education is a change in behavior. It involves the life-changing applications of a positive attitude, work ethic/effort, commitment, discipline, process, teamwork and mental toughness/resiliency.

Silver linings are an empowering state of mind, heart, and soul. Silver linings denote an individual’s ability to be a lifetime learner. Part of being a lifetime learner is the ability to identify and apply positive lessons from the good, the bad, and the ugly in any situation. There is a humility that comes with this mind-set, because it begins with the acknowledgment that we don’t know everything. Moreover, an attitude of being a lifetime learner and finding silver linings means never losing a sense of wonder in appreciating all that life has to offer. This attitude is a testament to an individual’s character. It is my wife’s mantra and she is my silver lining.

I am a Son and a Brother

A Christian

A Proud Army Brat

A Widower and Remarried

A Husband

A Father

A Ball Coach

Always a Tiger

Army Brat

Since the tragedy of the lies that President Richard Nixon made as part of the Watergate Scandal on 17 November 1973, the population of the United States of America has not trusted its own elected Government. The complete lack of integrity of career politicians has left of vacuum of character within Washington D.C. This absence of character has paved the way for a complete disappearance of Leadership of our country.

Because of our career politicians, the United States of America does not honor its debts. The United States of America is 18+ Trillion Dollars in Debt. Since September 30th 2012, our national debt continues to increase on average of 2.43 billion / day. Each citizen’s share is approximately $56,000. We are in debt past our foreseeable future. This in part has led to our country’s credit rating being downgraded a few times in recent years.

The vacuum of leadership resulting from the lack of integrity and the subsequent absence of character has resulted in a failed government that does not represent its people or our founding ideals. Our highest governmental leaders abandon their appointed officials and military service members, leaving them to die around the world (Benghazi). Exacerbating this failure of leadership, these same leaders then insult the dead by lying, not accepting responsibility along with its consequences or both. Our United States Congress votes themselves pay raises and excludes themselves from laws they enact (Obamacare). Within that same line of thinking, Congress ensures that their salaries, medical care and retirement packages are better than our military service members. This selfish and self – serving attitude has translated into a government that no longer serves it people.

The concept of selfless-service by definition means to place value on something above one’s own self. At its core, selfless-service goes against individuality and personal ego. Selfless-Service is biblical, Nehemiah building a stone wall. TEAMWORK. The gift of the faction of the 1960’s generation of question authority and what’s in it for me has been SELFISHNESS.

Regardless of the failure of our civilian government, We, The United States of America, have had the greatest military the world has ever known. Our armed forces have grounded themselves in humanistic character concepts of core values:

United States Army

Integrity: Do what’s right, legally and morally.

Personal Courage: Face fear, danger, or adversity.

Loyalty: Bear true faith and allegiance to the US Constitution, the army, your unit, and other soldiers.

Duty: Fulfill your obligations.

Respect: Treat people as they should be treated.

Honor: Live up to the army values.

Selfless Service: Put the welfare of the nation, the army, and your subordinates before your own.

United States Coast Guard

Honor: Integrity is our standard. We demonstrate uncompromising ethical and moral behavior in all of our personal actions. We are loyal and accountable to the public trust.

Respect: We treat each other with fairness, dignity and compassion. We work as a team.

Devotion to Duty: We are professionals, military and civilian. We seek responsibility, accept accountability, and are committed to successful achievement of our organizational goals. We exist to serve. We serve with pride.

Courage: Mental, moral, and physical strength to overcome fear in the face of adversity

Commitment: Spirit of determination, dedication, and discipline for excellence in every endeavor

Integrity: Being honest with yourself and others regardless of circumstance

Service: Commitment and dedication to a mission. The mission above self.

Excellence: Professionally and morally doing the very best you can and everything you can.

A parent’s career built around the humanistic concepts of

Selfless Service: Serving others, a job/mission above all else

Courage:

Physical Courage: Decisions based on physical harm, regardless of circumstance

Moral Courage: Decisions based on principles, values and convictions regardless of circumstance

Integrity: Honesty of purpose regardless of circumstance.

Duty: Determination, dedication, discipline to fulfill your obligations to the best of your ability, regardless of circumstance.

This higher standard of character and personal conduct translates into a parent’s career defined by the needs/requirements of a nation. Within that the need/requirement, the concept of being battle ready. Battle ready, the ability to courageously serve and fulfill an obligation defined by an order/document (the United States Constitution). Battle ready means training/going wherever a scenario demands.

Their existence is tied to the defense of the United States Constitution, defending on our global interests and political unrest. These tasks are centered on imposing political will through force. Carl Von Clausewitz was a Prussian General (1792–1831) and through today a greatly studied military theorist. Clausewitz said, War is politics by other means. The life of a career, soldier, is a dichotomy. It is a life spent training for war and always being on call. Hoping war never happens but looking forward to performing the duty when called. Recognizing that as a career combat arms soldier, career advancement is related to actual successful combat experience. General Douglas MacArthur once said, Who could hate war more other than a soldier or his family. For it is them who know and carry the burden of combat. They willingly go to the sound of violence and chaos to fight for and defend those who can’t fight for themselves. Based on a mission, soldiers will kill, take another human life, or make the ultimate sacrifice themselves.

I am reminded of a poem:

WHAT IS A VET?

Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye.

Other may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg, or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul’s ally forged in the refinery of adversity.

Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem.

You can’t tell just by looking.

What is a vet?

He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers did not run out of fuel.

He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel.

She or he is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang.

He is the POW who went away one person and came back another—or didn’t come back at all.

He is the Paris Island drill instructor who has never seen combat—but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no—account rednecks and gang members into Marines, and teaching them to watch each other’s backs.

He is the parade riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.

He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by.

He is the three anonymous heroes in the Tomb of the Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean’s sunless deep.

He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket—palsied now and aggravatingly slow—who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.

He is an ordinary and yet extraordinary human being—a person who offered some of his life’s most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.

He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known. –

Anthony Barton Hinkle, Richmond Times Dispatch

From a family’s perspective, being battle ready is defined by another wayward transient move to a training facility to another or a parent being absent from any significant event: a sporting event, an awards ceremony, a birthday, a graduation, a wedding, a childbirth, or a funeral. Whether by training, temporary duty (TDY) assignments and/or deployments, a military parent’s job begins to engulf their life and that of their family almost defining who they are.

Colonel Parry, garrison commander of Fort Hood in Texas, once spoke to the teachers of Copperas Cove Independent School District in August of 2002. Having grown up an ‘Army Brat’ and now as a teacher / coach at Copperas Cove HS, his speech spoke to me deeply. This is what I remember of it:

I am from Fort Hood, So I would ask your indulgence to talk with you from that perspective. You have the best Army in the world today. The reason it is the best is because we move people to expose them to new situations, new challenges, new jobs.

For many of your students, this will be their first year in a Copperas Cove school; for others, this is just one way – point along the journey that children of soldiers in today’s Army.

I will leave you with this one thought. All of you know that this nation is engaged in a protracted war to rid the world of terrorism. It didn’t start on 11 Sept. of last year. This war can be traced to at least as far back as the bombing of the marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon in October 1983. You read the papers and watch television, so you know that there is much discussion about military options that will fundamentally alter the strategic landscape as it exists in the Middle East today. At some point, not if, but when – soldiers from Fort Hood will be called upon, to go do their duty.

They will go, not because they want to, but because they are ordered to do what this nation asks them to. All of you will do a great service to Fort Hood soldiers and this nation if by your enthusiasm, the education you provide the children of those soldiers is one of the primary reasons their families choose to remain in Copperas Cove when the call comes.

Good Luck this year, God Bless each of you, and God Bless the great United States. Thank You.

Colonel Parry, 2002 Garrison Commander Fort Hood, Texas

I grew up the son of a career army officer. In 1964, my dad, Leonard Doy Miller, graduated as the #1 R.O.T.C. cadet in the nation that accepted a commission. As a field artillery officer, his career would span twenty-nine years.

Dad’s career began as Communist East Germany was constructing the Berlin Wall. There were two tours in Vietnam involving the Tet offensive of 1968 and the beginnings of the Exodus in 1973. He also served three duty assignments at the Army’s Office of Legislative Liaison in the Pentagon. This was a lesson of just how our government functions. The Berlin Wall opened in November 1989.

In 1990 – 1991, his V – Corps Artillery command had supportive roles in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. His final command was Field Command, Defense Nuclear Agency. During his tenure as Commander of Field Command they conducted the last underground nuclear test in the spring of 1993.

Twenty-Nine-Year Career Timeline (Average Time in One Place was Eighteen Months)

Early on in his career, dad attempted to resign from the army twice. The first time was as a first lieutenant in Germany. He was learning about work ethic. Commonly known through contemporary management teachings as the Pareto principle, the 20/80 rule, 20 percent of the people do 80 percent of the work. Dad and his boss, Colonel Garret, had a talk about the issues he was facing. Colonel Garret told him he’d find these same issues in civilian life and tried to convince him that he’d be a great soldier. Unbeknownst to dad, he would be given orders to Vietnam the next day, as a field artillery battery commander.

As a Captain, he served as a commander of the B – Battery of the sixth of the fourteenth Field Artillery during the Tet Offensive of 1968. Having successfully led in combat, dad was given an assignment of being a nuclear weapons instructor. He tried to resign again. This time he was informed he was serving at the pleasure of the president of the United States then promoted to major.

As a major, he was sent to language school in Fairfax, Virginia. Unbeknownst to him, this assignment would prepare him for another assignment to/in Vietnam. This assignment in Fairfax, Virginia, was where I was born. My mom, Carolyn, confronted her husband about his career. My mom and dad talked about how he enjoyed serving as a soldier and being a leader. My mom informed my dad she did not like being so far from home for so long. But as his wife, she would stand beside him and go/do whatever made him happy. For the duration of my life, that is how I knew them: Mom and Dad, husband and wife, an inseparable team/unit.

Women are the strongest people I’ve ever known. My mom is one of the strongest people I’ve ever been around. Both my parents came from a small town in northwest Louisiana, Minden. Mom left Minden, Louisiana, with my dad and went from Friedberg, Germany to Tacoma, Washington. She supported dad in a time of no Internet, e-mail, Skype or face time. Communication came in regular mail or Ham Radio (paid by Barry Goldwater). In 1967–1968 and again in 1972–1973, while dad was in Vietnam, mom would not answer the front door of our house. Only military notifications of a spouse’s/loved one’s death came via the front door.

My mother would bury her father in 1980. We lived in Fairfax, Virginia. She buried her mother in 1988, again we were stationed in Fairfax, Virginia. In 1992, mom and dad were in transit between Frankfurt, Germany, and Albuquerque, New Mexico and my mom would bury her grandmother. Mom would bury her brother, Jim Hall in 1993. Her brother Jim was buried while Mom and Dad were stationed at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Carolyn Hall Miller is the last survivor on her side of the family.

In August 1992, mom left my dad in a temporary house on Kirtland Air Force Base to go support my older brother and his young family. My nephew was born three months premature. Jacob Doy Miller weighed one pound thirteen ounces at birth. My brother’s wife, Lynn, had developed toxemia and was rushed into emergency surgery. My mom rushed to support my brother. I drove my mom from New Mexico to Shreveport, Louisiana, where she found a flight to BWI Airport in Washington DC.

Mona Carolyn Hall Miller was a small-town country girl that would earn the first college degree in her family. She would become a schoolteacher and marry an army officer. Mom would love my dad through two tours in Vietnam while raising two sons. Along the way, she cleaved, biblically, to her husband, Leonard. Her love made our house a home whenever the Army sent us. She is the finest example of a mother I could imagine. My mom is loving and nurturing, strong, supportive, and independent.

I was along for the ride. My journey would take me from Fairfax, Virginia, to Tacoma, Washington, Frankfurt, Germany, and places in between. Along the way, I would move a total of twelve times. My average stay in one place was about twenty months. If I remove the two duty assignments of Fort Lewis, Washington, four years, and dad’s first assignment at the Pentagon, three and a half years, my average stay in one place was approximately thirteen months.

I would change schools in the fall of my sixth grade year, again in February of my eighth grade year. In June of my freshmen year, I would change schools again. However, this move came close enough to final exams. I would be allowed to exempt them. Another move came in August of my junior year. My dad had just been promoted to brigadier general, and another duty station was coming in the fall of my junior year. My dad was able to learn of this next assignment, another tour of duty at the Pentagon.

My parents signed over guardianship to Ralph and Lori Stone, neighbors of ours. This allowed me to begin my junior year of high school at one school, also allowing me to be a part of that school’s football team. My mom and dad would come two months later in October. The army would attempt to move me again in February of my senior year to Italy. However, my dad and his boss were able to get that assignment changed to July of 1990.

Upon completion of my senior year of high school, I would help my parents pack up parts of the house. In July, we would travel to my dad’s parent’s house, our hometown in Minden, Louisiana.

My parents would drop me off there and they would return to finish packing the house so they could move to Frankfurt, Germany. I would stay with my grandparents for several weeks until time to go to college at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. I still tease my parents saying, I didn’t leave home to go to college. Ya’ll left me.

With all these moves, athletics became an avenue for me to meet and make friends. Through tenth grade it was soccer. However, in the 8th grade, my heart found a passion for football. I would eventually quit playing soccer so I could focus my efforts to football. Truth be known, I was probably a better soccer player, but I had a burning passion for football.

A childhood hero of mine was Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach. My family would gather in front of the TV on Sunday afternoons to watch the Cowboys and Roger. My dad’s childhood football hero was Baltimore Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas. My mom was a big Roger Staubach fan. She feels like he is a class act. Football was a way for me to connect with my parents. I wanted to play football, and I wanted to play quarterback.

Eighth grade at Leesville Jr. High in Leesville, Louisiana, was my first year to play organized football and it looked like it. As a ninth grader I played mostly strong safety and was allowed to play in a B games as a quarterback. I got better and better during my ninth grade year at Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax, Virginia. As my freshman year went on, I worked hard and the team’s starting quarterback moved.

Sometime near the end of May, the coaches had pulled me into their offices and talked me through their plan for the upcoming summer and fall. I was penciled in as the JV starter. They took me through summer workouts and some drills. I was so excited. I had worked for two years for an opportunity like this. That night, as my parents and I sat down over dinner, I excitedly told them about what the coaches had done and said. I went on and on about how fired up I was. My parents just listened. When I finished, my dad simply said, How would you feel about moving back to Fort Polk (Leesville)?

I was disappointed but thought if I’d work hard another opportunity would come up for me. So I responded, If that’s what we have to do, we have to go. Dad had been promoted to full colonel and was asked to be the chief of staff at Fort Polk. By the second week of June, I was checked out of the Robinson and headed to Fort Polk, Louisiana.

As things turned out, I was the JV starting quarterback at Leesville High School in 1987. A senior was starting on the varsity. His little brother was the ninth grade starter. I would be able to compete for the starting role through spring football, and no decision had been made going into the summer of 1988. I had a great summer of workouts. Again, I felt great going into late July.

In July, Dad was promoted to brigadier general. Another move was coming in the fall. In August, my parents would sign over guardianship to our neighbors, and I would live with my friends the Stones until my parents could move. I was able to join Robinson’s team as practice was starting and play spot time as a special teams player. Our team would play for the state championship. We lost, 21–18.

I had left the Robinson coaching staff without a sub-varsity quarterback a little over a year ago. Some of the coaches did not trust that I would be around. I would finish high school as a backup quarterback. We did win the one game I started.

The army machine did not care about how many times they uprooted me or my family. It did not care the stress my parents felt about me because of all the moves. In February 1990, the army tried to move our family again, this time to Italy. It would be another desk assignment for my dad, newly promoted brigadier general. The second assignment for a brigadier is supposed to be a field command. However, Dad was angry about the desk job