thedrifter
09-15-06, 07:00 AM
Posted on Fri, Sep. 15, 2006
Veteran presence
SULLIVAN INSPIRING HIS SJSU TEAMMATES
By Laurence Miedema
Mercury News
Through the long, dusty days and never-ending nights in Iraq, Cpl. David Sullivan had a clear vision of his future. It always included football.
Now, eight months after returning from his second tour of duty, the Marine is getting his chance with his hometown San Jose State Spartans.
Sullivan, 24, joined the football team in August as a walk-on. His only guarantee is a long climb up the depth chart. Saturday, the defensive back watched SJSU's upset victory over Stanford from the sideline wearing a sweatsuit, not a uniform. It's almost certain that Sullivan won't play one snap this season.
And he has never been happier.
``Playing football was my whole goal, something I thought about for four years while I was in the military,'' Sullivan said. ``It's like a dream to me.''
Sullivan is no stranger to football. He was a three-year starter at Valley Christian High as a defensive back and was all-league as a senior in 2000.
But that was a lifetime ago, before he enlisted, before he started dodging bullets half a world away from home.
Sullivan, a sophomore in terms of athletic eligibility, is the oldest player on the Spartans' roster. But it is his life experience, not his age, that gives him credibility in the locker room.
``I respect the man greatly,'' senior safety Christopher Vedder said. ``For him to be in war, for him to be a Marine -- I don't know if I could do what he did.''
SJSU Coach Dick Tomey, who had military veterans on his teams at Arizona and Hawaii, said the Spartans will benefit from the presence of someone who has been in ``a life-and-death proposition every day.''
``Nothing can get too tough for him,'' Tomey said. ``It's just an injection of maturity into your team.''
This also is Sullivan's second tour of duty with the Spartans. He tried out in 2001 but was cut.
By the following spring, with his football prospects dim and his grades poor, Sullivan was looking to make a change in his life. After watching a Memorial Day parade on television with a cousin who was in the Marines, Sullivan decided to enlist. He left for boot camp in September 2002.
``It was something I felt I needed to do,'' he said. ``The only reason I wanted to be in the Marines was to go to Iraq.''
Sullivan's decision left his parents, Kevin and Hallie, with mixed emotions.
``It was pretty tough because we were still all reacting to 9/11,'' said Hallie, a retired kindergarten teacher. ``We were proud of him to stand up for his country and make a stand, but we were also fearful of what could happen.''
The Sullivans were able to keep tabs on their only son -- they have three daughters -- through e-mail and cell phone conversations. But there also were periods of unbearable silence, gaps that lasted three or four weeks.
``You wonder what's going on,'' said Kevin, who owns a roofing company in Gilroy. ``You'd see a strange car around the house and wonder if they're going to tell you some bad news.''
Sullivan had a role model, he said, another football player turned soldier from San Jose. He still has the newspaper story about Pat Tillman leaving the Arizona Cardinals to join the Army Rangers in summer 2002.
``It motivated me to see someone in his position -- a place I would love to be -- sacrifice his football career and ultimately his life to'' serve his country, Sullivan said.
Sullivan first put boots down in Iraq on Valentine's Day in 2004. He spent seven months in the mortar section of an infantry unit in the outskirts of Hit, a city in Western Iraq considered a hot spot for insurgents traveling from Syria to central Iraq.
He returned to the combat zone in spring 2005, this time as the leader of a four-man sniper team. He led his team on missions through Fallujah that typically ranged from 12 hours to three days. Their goal was to prevent insurgents from planting the roadside bombs that are the top killer of U.S. troops in Iraq, according to the Pentagon.
``You don't know what's out there; it's freaky,'' Sullivan said. ``You see your friends that get blown up by grenades or whatever. You see dudes get shot.
``You'd be on patrol or on post at night, and you'd see tracers and bullets flying by. It was like `Star Wars.' ''
Sullivan knows he is fortunate to have emerged from his stints uninjured. He defied the odds. He said that his battalion of about 1,000 soldiers suffered more than 300 injuries. Thirteen in his battalion were killed, he said.
Sullivan returned stateside in January and was sent to Twentynine Palms in the Mohave desert, where he served as a sniper instructor. He also put feelers out about a return to football. He considered going to a junior college, but through his former high school coach, Mike Machado, Sullivan was brought to the attention of SJSU assistant coach Keith Burns. Sullivan was told to turn out for practice when he was discharged in mid-August.
``San Jose State was nice enough and smart enough to give him a shot,'' Machado said. ``There is nothing he can't do if he wants to do it. David worked as hard as anybody we've ever had.''
This season is mostly an acclimation period for Sullivan. He hasn't played competitive football in five years and needs to put bulk on his 5-foot-9, 165-pound frame and get faster.
For now, he'll help on the scout team and try to catch the coaching staff's eye in the weekly Sunday night scrimmage.
``He has some skills,'' Vedder said. ``He's out here flying around, getting to the ball. He just needs to learn the system and get comfortable with it.
``He has a lot of courage and a lot of heart. As long as you have that, I think you have a spot on any team.''
Contact Laurence Miedema at lsmiedema@mercurynews.com or (40 920-5825.
Ellie
Veteran presence
SULLIVAN INSPIRING HIS SJSU TEAMMATES
By Laurence Miedema
Mercury News
Through the long, dusty days and never-ending nights in Iraq, Cpl. David Sullivan had a clear vision of his future. It always included football.
Now, eight months after returning from his second tour of duty, the Marine is getting his chance with his hometown San Jose State Spartans.
Sullivan, 24, joined the football team in August as a walk-on. His only guarantee is a long climb up the depth chart. Saturday, the defensive back watched SJSU's upset victory over Stanford from the sideline wearing a sweatsuit, not a uniform. It's almost certain that Sullivan won't play one snap this season.
And he has never been happier.
``Playing football was my whole goal, something I thought about for four years while I was in the military,'' Sullivan said. ``It's like a dream to me.''
Sullivan is no stranger to football. He was a three-year starter at Valley Christian High as a defensive back and was all-league as a senior in 2000.
But that was a lifetime ago, before he enlisted, before he started dodging bullets half a world away from home.
Sullivan, a sophomore in terms of athletic eligibility, is the oldest player on the Spartans' roster. But it is his life experience, not his age, that gives him credibility in the locker room.
``I respect the man greatly,'' senior safety Christopher Vedder said. ``For him to be in war, for him to be a Marine -- I don't know if I could do what he did.''
SJSU Coach Dick Tomey, who had military veterans on his teams at Arizona and Hawaii, said the Spartans will benefit from the presence of someone who has been in ``a life-and-death proposition every day.''
``Nothing can get too tough for him,'' Tomey said. ``It's just an injection of maturity into your team.''
This also is Sullivan's second tour of duty with the Spartans. He tried out in 2001 but was cut.
By the following spring, with his football prospects dim and his grades poor, Sullivan was looking to make a change in his life. After watching a Memorial Day parade on television with a cousin who was in the Marines, Sullivan decided to enlist. He left for boot camp in September 2002.
``It was something I felt I needed to do,'' he said. ``The only reason I wanted to be in the Marines was to go to Iraq.''
Sullivan's decision left his parents, Kevin and Hallie, with mixed emotions.
``It was pretty tough because we were still all reacting to 9/11,'' said Hallie, a retired kindergarten teacher. ``We were proud of him to stand up for his country and make a stand, but we were also fearful of what could happen.''
The Sullivans were able to keep tabs on their only son -- they have three daughters -- through e-mail and cell phone conversations. But there also were periods of unbearable silence, gaps that lasted three or four weeks.
``You wonder what's going on,'' said Kevin, who owns a roofing company in Gilroy. ``You'd see a strange car around the house and wonder if they're going to tell you some bad news.''
Sullivan had a role model, he said, another football player turned soldier from San Jose. He still has the newspaper story about Pat Tillman leaving the Arizona Cardinals to join the Army Rangers in summer 2002.
``It motivated me to see someone in his position -- a place I would love to be -- sacrifice his football career and ultimately his life to'' serve his country, Sullivan said.
Sullivan first put boots down in Iraq on Valentine's Day in 2004. He spent seven months in the mortar section of an infantry unit in the outskirts of Hit, a city in Western Iraq considered a hot spot for insurgents traveling from Syria to central Iraq.
He returned to the combat zone in spring 2005, this time as the leader of a four-man sniper team. He led his team on missions through Fallujah that typically ranged from 12 hours to three days. Their goal was to prevent insurgents from planting the roadside bombs that are the top killer of U.S. troops in Iraq, according to the Pentagon.
``You don't know what's out there; it's freaky,'' Sullivan said. ``You see your friends that get blown up by grenades or whatever. You see dudes get shot.
``You'd be on patrol or on post at night, and you'd see tracers and bullets flying by. It was like `Star Wars.' ''
Sullivan knows he is fortunate to have emerged from his stints uninjured. He defied the odds. He said that his battalion of about 1,000 soldiers suffered more than 300 injuries. Thirteen in his battalion were killed, he said.
Sullivan returned stateside in January and was sent to Twentynine Palms in the Mohave desert, where he served as a sniper instructor. He also put feelers out about a return to football. He considered going to a junior college, but through his former high school coach, Mike Machado, Sullivan was brought to the attention of SJSU assistant coach Keith Burns. Sullivan was told to turn out for practice when he was discharged in mid-August.
``San Jose State was nice enough and smart enough to give him a shot,'' Machado said. ``There is nothing he can't do if he wants to do it. David worked as hard as anybody we've ever had.''
This season is mostly an acclimation period for Sullivan. He hasn't played competitive football in five years and needs to put bulk on his 5-foot-9, 165-pound frame and get faster.
For now, he'll help on the scout team and try to catch the coaching staff's eye in the weekly Sunday night scrimmage.
``He has some skills,'' Vedder said. ``He's out here flying around, getting to the ball. He just needs to learn the system and get comfortable with it.
``He has a lot of courage and a lot of heart. As long as you have that, I think you have a spot on any team.''
Contact Laurence Miedema at lsmiedema@mercurynews.com or (40 920-5825.
Ellie