Ben Garland’s decision – try to make the NFL or enter pilot training – was something that has been weighing on his mind for months. When the former Air Force nose tackle was in training camp with the Denver Broncos last August, his decision even got some national attention.
Garland won’t enter pilot training for the Air Force. He has received his reclassification to public affairs and is assigned to the academy’s athletic department, spokesman Troy Garnhart said. He is currently an instructor in the physical education department, one of 11 instructors responsible for teaching physical education classes, fitness testing and evaluations. There are 31 military personnel, ranging from second lieutenant to colonel, in the physical education department, Garnhart said. That reclassification will allow him to continue pursuing his dream of playing in the NFL with the Broncos, who kept him on the military/reserve list last season.
Garland’s assignment is for three years and his next stop will be in public affairs, which is his career field, but in a year he can request to the Department of Defense to have the final three years of his military commitment become six years of reserve duty, which is allowed if he has a signed pro contract. Chad Hall did that last year, and played last season with the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles.
I will try to catch up with Garland today to get his thoughts on what had to be a difficult decision between two good options.
Rob,
People were called out in the media for those violations and held accountable for their behavior–what’s your point? No one is holding them up as models of professionalism or fiscal responsibility, or wanting to use them as “billboards” for honorable service.
Psstt….a handful of mids just got booted for using or dealing spice. Want to try to connect that to Garland’s case somehow?
ChicagoZoomie,
Every person who puts on the uniform is at some risk? By that logic the janitors and groundskeepers at USNA are serving too, since they run the risk of a traffic accident while driving to or from work every day. In fact their risk may even be higher than the risks involved in being a PE instructor or a PAO. Should we consider what they do as equal to being in a real military unit?
There’s nothing “archaic” about standards that say someone in the military should, at some point, depart the place they spent four years of college and be assigned to an operational unit or a real-life Army/Navy/AF/USMC base.
There are two main points I get from that story.
1. PPX was talking about his right as a tax-payer to be upset by the way tax-payer funds are spent on AF football related jobs. Navy seems to have a worse problem with using tax-payer funds for football related parties, which has already been proven illegal by the IG. It was kind of a glass house point for squids here piously complaining about the way the AF athletic department is run.
2. Eric said Navy football coaches are paid with private funds and that this is superior to the way AF justifies military coaches on staff. PPX and I had a back and forth debate about whether the Naval Academy Athletic Department was 100% privately funded or whether it is just slightly different from how AF is funded. Now we have an IG report that says Navy spent tax-payer funds on lavish football program parties. So I conclude the Naval Academy Athletic Dept is not 100% privately funded.
ChicagoZoomie, service academies do not exist for PR. They exist to provide the graduates who will form the core of the nation’s career military officers. It is not elitist to believe that it is a waste to spend four years of a service academy education to produce a PE teacher and fringe NFL prospect. You can wrap yourself in the flag and pontificate about teamwork, but it’s nothing but obfuscation. We are talking about PE teachers and football players, not every non-flying job in the Air Force.
Rob, if you weren’t so busy trying to change the subject you would see that the report you think is such a gotcha has nothing to do with the actual athletic department. I actually read the IG report. You clearly have not.
This isn’t about USNA vs. USAFA. This is about the public’s expectations for service academy graduates. I assume that your desperation to change the subject is indicative of your inability to justify Air Force graduates spending their active duty as PE teachers and football coaches.
PPX,
I’m happy to stay on subject and talk about Garland, the main character in the story we are commenting on. My posts today were wrapping up issues we discussed yesterday.
Yesterday you were laughing at my feeble minded understanding of USNA’s athletic department…and how it was embarrassing that I considered the dept to be not completely privately funded. You were wrong and aren’t a big enough man to admit it….instead you are calling it “changing the subject.” I’ll be the bigger man and drop it.
Back to Garland. He obviously wanted to go to pilot training but has a conflicting personal interest with the larger ADSC. I went through the same thing. I had a pilot slot right out of the Academy and ended up turning it down because I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be in the military for 10 years. A few years later, I changed my mind, reapplied and currently serve as a pilot. Instead of going to pilot training right away, I was a support officer stationed in Las Vegas, after a few years, I deployed for large periods of time and had the time of my life. My roommate went through the same thing, turned down his pilot slot and spent a few years doing minority recruiting at the Academy before getting out. So I have personally sympathy and understanding for Garland’s circumstances and I wish him well.
But you don’t want to talk about GARLAND do you? You are very “busy trying to change the subject” to a larger debate about athletic programs, assignment classifications, etc. In the process you have projected a false sense of superiority about the way your service runs their football program and athletic department.
If you want to talk about the Garland, I’ll be happy to continue. But I will ignore further off-topic and hypocritical accusations of impropriety by USAFA.
Rob-
Garland “wanted to be a pilot” but Big AF is forcing him to be a PAO and play football on the side? Every article I’ve read on the subject seems to indicate pretty plainly that he’s making a CHOICE to pursue football rather than the pilot route. Which one is it?
Back to the “slush fund” deal–do you see any Navy fans holding that up as a good example of how to use our taxpayer dollars? No, that story provoked quite a bit of outrage and let to the Supe getting a pretty nasty reprimand from his bosses before being forced into early retirement. People did stuff they shouldn’t have, got caught, and faced the consequences.
What I said was “embarrassing” was your characterization of private donations from military members as public funding. And that IS pretty embarrassing. That you think this way makes any further explanation of how wrong you are about the USNA athletic department pointless, since you clearly wouldn’t understand. Oh, and if you wanted to be the “bigger man and drop it,” you wouldn’t have tried to get the last word. If you want to respond, just do it. Drop the self-congratulatory pretense of being the “bigger man.”
Talking about what Garland is being allowed to do isn’t changing the subject. I’m not sure how it could be more ON the subject.
When OSD shut down Army’s attempt to push Caleb Campbell straight to the NFL, they did so in a memo that said “constructs for ‘active duty’ service should not include arrangements typically unavailable to others in uniform.” So tell me, do anyone other than football players get to spend the majority of their Air Force career as football coaches? Are there any non-athletes that get to spend years as a PE teacher while preparing for the NFL?
Again, this isn’t about one school versus another. This is about remembering the mission of the service academies.
Eric, reread my last post. I agree Garland deciding not to go to pilot training was his personal choice.
“He obviously wanted to go to pilot training but has a conflicting personal interest with the larger ADSC.” Just like I did at the time.
PPX, you Sir have had the last word.
Fare well Seamen.
I’d get tired of defending the indefensible too.
I’m surprised at the reaction to this – didn’t everyone see this coming? The AIr Force of all services has the fewest operational billets, one reason or one recruiting tool that the Air FOrce is able to use to it’s advantage, ie – if you don’t want to go to war – go Air Force. Not saying all who attend AF won’t go to war, because certainly a lot do – but for the most part, grads have much more opportunity to go into ‘jobs/careers’ that will keep them out of harms way; compared to the other services. That is what Garland has decided to do – to opt out of being in an operational billet to one of riding a desk.
All cadets go to the Academy with the expectation of becomming an officer and a leader w/in the military – and they may go with the thought of becoming a pilot, etc – but a lot can change over 4 years. And for Garland – he got bigger, developed a lot on the football field and has the chance to play on Sundays. Good for him. I think there is some criticism/sensitivity in Air FOrce’s slotting a number of their grads in positions such as ‘coach’ vice being in the real air force..and maybe some day they’ll do the same to some of their real smart grads – assigning them positions as ‘professors, ‘ etc – instead of making them take one of fewer AF operational positions.
Best of luck to Ben!
[...] Lt Ben Garland has reportedly changed his mind and asked for an assignment as a Public Affairs officer rather than pilot training. He will be assigned to the USAFA athletic department rather than his original assignment to [...]
Most of what I have read here is ignorance. 2nd Lt. Garland happens to currently be my boss in the Public Affairs office on Scott AFB. He is the epitome of an AF officer and has exceeded the expectations that any Senior NCO would ever have for a new young Lt. He is a true leader — one who leads by example and takes care of his people. He is also open to being mentore by experienced SNCOs and does not act like he’s “above” learning from enlisted leadership. Long story short — no one know him like I do. He never talks about the Broncos or trying to get out of his commitment unless someone brings it up. He meets ALL standards — fitness and otherwise. He is an AF LEADER in every sense of the word. Don’t mistake that for a second. As much as I would love the AF to be able to keep a person like this, I can’t help but try and do everything I can to help him reach his dream. He deserves that for the person he is and the work he’s put in to get here.