thedrifter
03-10-07, 07:22 AM
Local Football Star Prepares For Iraq Deployment
POSTED: 5:55 pm PST March 9, 2007
BAKERSFIELD -- A local man who made a name for himself on the football field will soon be going to the battlefield.
L. Cpl. Jeremy Staat, who played four seasons in the NFL and was a standout athlete at Bakersfield High School, will be deployed to Iraq with his unit in the next two weeks.
"War is what I signed up for," Staat said.
Staat will serve as part of an organized gang task unit aimed at curbing the sectarian violence in Iraq.
His college teammate and fellow NFL star Pat Tillman joined the Army after September 11th and was killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan in 2004. Staat says that inspired him to enlist in the Marine Corps.
Some question his decision to enlist, but Staat says his time in the Marines has made him more humble, and his choice to give up the money and fame of the NFL was worth it.
Ellie
POSTED: 5:55 pm PST March 9, 2007
BAKERSFIELD -- A local man who made a name for himself on the football field will soon be going to the battlefield.
L. Cpl. Jeremy Staat, who played four seasons in the NFL and was a standout athlete at Bakersfield High School, will be deployed to Iraq with his unit in the next two weeks.
"War is what I signed up for," Staat said.
Staat will serve as part of an organized gang task unit aimed at curbing the sectarian violence in Iraq.
His college teammate and fellow NFL star Pat Tillman joined the Army after September 11th and was killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan in 2004. Staat says that inspired him to enlist in the Marine Corps.
Some question his decision to enlist, but Staat says his time in the Marines has made him more humble, and his choice to give up the money and fame of the NFL was worth it.
Ellie