Green Beret Becomes Seahawk

Former Green Beret and Texas long snapper Nate Boyer hopes to hook on in NFL 
USA TODAY
Nate Davis
Sports
May 2, 2015

(UPDATE: Boyer was offered a contract by the Seattle Seahawks after the NFL draft concluded Saturday evening.)

Boyer served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Photo: Courtesy Nate Boyer)

Nate Boyer is a special teams ace, which seems highly appropriate once you're familiar with his background.

A man who willingly tackles challenges, Boyer is currently trying to surmount a huge one — latching on with an NFL team as a long snapper.

At 5-11, 220 pounds and 34 years of age, he is the longest of long shots. But unfavorable odds typically don't deter men who have served with the Green Berets, and Boyer's beaten them before.

After serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, he decided at age 29 that he better attend college, fearing he never would otherwise. In the process of matriculating at the University of Texas, Boyer also walked onto the football team even though he'd never played a competitive down in his life.
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Troops in Afghanistan Super Bowl Party 5,000 Pizzas

Chicago charity sending 5,000 pizzas to troops in Afghanistan
By The Associated Press
February 1, 2015

CHICAGO (AP) — Make it 5,000 pizzas to go please.

And so it will be that the roughly 11,000 U.S. troops left in Afghanistan will get a slice of home for Super Bowl Sunday.

Pizzas4Patriots.com is teaming with Rich Foods and DHL to send 5,000 pies to American service members across Afghanistan.
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Super Bowl Shoutout to Troops
℠2015 - The New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks face off in Super Bowl XLIX and players from both sides express their appreciation for the troops.

Disabled Army Vet with PTSD walking tall with huge flag

Army veteran proud of Seahawks role on, off field
Just before Saturday’s Seahawks game, Army veteran Armando Mejia will guide military members who unfurl and wave the large American flag that spreads from the end zone onto the field.
Seattle Times
By Jack Broom staff reporter
January 9, 2014

Dean Rutz
Army veteran proud of Seahawks role on, off field
Armando Mejia, left, also helps with Seahawks visits to military bases, such as Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

You likely wouldn’t notice Armando Mejia walks with a limp, and that’s the way he’d prefer it.

The IED explosion that ripped apart the Humvee he was riding in Iraq in 2004 is an inescapable part of this Army veteran’s history, requiring 20 surgeries and treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

But it’s the present and future Mejia is concentrating on.

“I feel blessed to be here,” said Mejia, 35, “doing something I really enjoy.”

On Saturday, in the minutes before the Seahawks’ playoff game against the New Orleans Saints, Mejia will be at his usual post, in suit and tie, accompanying and cuing a military team of about 50 members that will unroll and wave the 90-foot American flag for the “Star Spangled Banner.”

That’s just one of his duties. Mejia may have one of the longer titles in sports: “fan development international outreach manager” for both the Seahawks and Sounders FC. (The soccer team is partly owned by Seahawks owner Paul Allen.)

Mike Flood, Seahawks’ community-relations vice president, said Mejia is the team’s liaison to military and the Latino communities.
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Seattle Seahawks turn into soldiers for a day

NFL players become soldiers for a day
FORT LEWIS, Wash. — T.J. Houshmandzadeh is used to manhandling NFL defensive backs. That skill made him the most coveted wide receiver in the free agent market this offseason.

“It’s amazing, to see what a day is in these soldiers’ lives. And this is probably one of their easier days, hosting us,” Hasselbeck said.

None of the soldiers said they wanted to trade lives with their privileged NFL visitors, defensive tackle Craig Terrill said, “and that was the coolest thing of the day.”

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