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Ex-Army QB barking signals of
different kind
From The Associated
Press with Staff contributions
On Oct. 13, 2001,
quarterback Chad Jenkins scored on a 9-yard run to give Army an
early lead over heavily-favored East Carolina.
He would complete 21 of 38 passes that day for 289 yards and a touchdown
in a valiant but losing effort.
Later that season, Jenkins
hobbled onto the field with a torn knee ligament and took Army to
victory over Navy. In football, that's what passes for courage and
leadership.
These days, 2nd Lt.
Jenkins commands a 37-man rifle platoon that conducts night patrols,
searches for explosive devices, guards an ammunition dump and dodges
bullets in one of Iraq's hottest danger zones. That's taking bravery to
another level.
A rocket-propelled grenade landed 10 yards from his Humvee recently
while he was sleeping in Fallujah, a stronghold of former Iraqi leader
Saddam Hussein, 30 miles west of Baghdad in the so-called Sunni
Triangle.
"Whoa, we just got a pretty good size explosion over here," the
24-year-old Jenkins said Tuesday night as he spoke to The Associated
Press by telephone while patrolling an area two miles east of Fallujah.
He paused only a moment to gauge the impact. Explosions and mortar
rounds at night are common.
His platoon, attached to the 82nd Airborne Division, was the first on
the grisly scene when insurgents shot down a Chinook transport
helicopter on Nov. 2, killing 16 American soldiers and injuring 26.
"It was just a horrific day," he said. "We were eating breakfast when we
got the call that the Chinook was down and that victims were receiving
fire. We got over there in 15-20 minutes and set up a perimeter. There
was no small fire, so we sent in guys to provide first aid and get IDs.
It was something you train for but hope you never have to do.
"Then we had to stay an additional five days so that no looters came to
take away pieces of the Chinook. Those five days, being around the crash
site, were the worst."
In a more peaceful time, David and Lee Jenkins used to go to West Point
every weekend or travel around the country to watch their son play. Now,
like thousands of other families and friends of soldiers in Iraq and
Afghanistan, they and his 23-year-old girlfriend Emily Kiehborth wait
anxiously at home in Dublin, Ohio, for his sporadic 10-minute phone
calls and occasional letters.
There are so many missing places at tables this Thanksgiving Day, the
first since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and so many prayers for the
soldiers' safety. More than 400 American service members already have
lost their lives in Iraq.
"It's heartbreaking," Jenkins' mother said. "A lot of American families
are going through it. But as hard as it is for us, I know it's a lot
harder for them to be over there."
Several of Jenkins' teammates, including right guard Josh Gonzalez,
receiver Bryan Bowdish, defensive lineman Gene Palka, and linebacker B.J.
Wiley, also are in Iraq.
They shared glorious, if not always winning, weekends at Michie Stadium,
gray-uniformed cadets in the stands, the fall foliage resplendent in
red, orange and yellow. Now they patrol the cities and desert on
constant alert.
"If someone tells you they have no fear here, they're lying," Jenkins
said.
Army's 3-8 record in Jenkins' senior year, the 26-17 win over Navy, the
0-12 struggle of this year's team - all that is very distant and
insignificant at the moment, though it surely would be a morale boost
for them if Army beats Navy on Dec. 6.
Jenkins, a starter for two seasons and Army's seventh highest all-time
passer, had more guts than size or talent when he played at West Point.
Too small, some thought. Too slow. Weak arm. Jenkins didn't let any of
that stop him.
"They don't come any better than Chad Jenkins," Army offensive
coordinator John Bond said. "He squeezed every ounce of ability out of
that 175-pound body every day, every week. He got more out of himself
than anybody I've ever been around. He played hurt and he played healthy
and all points in between, and you never would know the difference."
The traits Jenkins showed as a quarterback - "a dynamic, charismatic
personality, a natural leader," Bond said - serve him and his troops
well in Iraq.
"'If you'd just see these 18- and 19-year-olds that I'm leading, they
need me,"' Lee Jenkins recalled her son saying before he left. "'That
should really make you feel better about what I'm doing."'
As he spoke by phone with the AP, Chad Jenkins said there were many
similarities between being a quarterback and a rifle platoon leader.
"When you step in a huddle on a Saturday, you've got guys looking right
back at you for direction," he said. "That's kind of the same thing as a
platoon leader. When you go out on a mission, everybody's looking at you
for guidance."
Jenkins raced through Ranger school last summer and spent only a week at
Fort Drum, N.Y., before he was assigned to the 10th Mountain Division,
1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry in Iraq.
One of his two sisters, Teri, had planned her wedding for Sept. 6,
figuring he would be able to attend, but he had to cut short his leave
to meet his young troops before they ventured into a war zone. The
groom's best man, a Marine in Iraq, also missed the wedding.
In these uncertain times, all plans are subject to change. Jenkins'
resolve was tested recently when he was told his six-month tour in Iraq
had been extended to a year.
He left for Iraq on Sept. 3, when the sun was still blazing in the
desert. Temperatures were a suffocating 130 degrees, the heat worse for
soldiers in body armor, uniforms and helmets. Sandstorms and fleas made
life miserable. Gunfire and explosions made it frightening.
Living on a hot breakfast and two ready-to-eat packaged meals a day the
first couple of months, Jenkins appreciated the care packages his
parents and Kiehborth sent - homemade cookies, his favorite purple
Skittles, Gatorade, CDs. Little things that offered a connection to the
life he left behind.
In Fallujah, Jenkins found a deeply conservative and anti-American city
of 200,000, all members of Islam's mainstream Sunni Muslim sect. Many
were offended by the behavior of American troops as they raided homes
and detained men in front of wives and children.
In early September, U.S. paratroopers mistakenly killed eight Iraqi
police officers and a Jordanian security guard in Fallujah, exacerbating
tensions and violence.
Jenkins saw the hatred for the Americans - "infidels," as insurgents
called them - but he also saw something that helped him make sense of
his mission.
"I understand why I am over here," Jenkins wrote to his parents in a
letter they shared with the AP. "The children do not deserve to live the
way they are now or, even worse, the way they did before. They are so
innocent and the only ones to wave and smile and cheer as we go through
Fallujah on patrols.
"You can see the cutoff and when they are pretty much brainwashed,
because any child older than, I'd say, 9 or 10 will no longer wave or
smile. But the children 8 and younger have no idea and they absolutely
love us."
Jenkins sought to ease his parents' minds, to let them know why he
believed Americans should be in Iraq.
It was typical of him to consider their fears rather than talk about his
own. He called his buddy Bond at West Point not long ago to ask how he
was doing during this tough, winless season. Jenkins didn't dwell on the
very real danger he lived with.
"Chad is a compassionate person, very caring," said his father, a
defense contractor. "I couldn't be any prouder of him. He's always given
our whole family reason to be quite proud. He is one of America's
finest."
Time passes faster, Jenkins told his parents, when his platoon is busy.
He was thankful, though, for a lull in the violence in Fallujah since
the helicopter attack.
Jenkins, who adopted a stray dog a few days ago, spends his rationed
telephone minutes each week talking more with his girlfriend than he
does with his parents. He and Kiehborth grew up together in Dublin
before he went off to West Point's prep school and entered the military
academy. She went to Penn State and was a cheerleader there. Each
followed the other's games and began dating a year and a half ago, after
they graduated.
Both knew, in the wake of Sept. 11, that the transition from the
win-or-lose world of football soon would be replaced by the
life-and-death reality of war.
"That makes you grow up pretty darn quick," Kiehborth said. "He's a very
mature man. He takes so much pride in what he does and how hard he
works. He's disciplined and really focuses on keeping his spirits and
attitude up because that reflects upon his platoon. That's the way he
was on the football field."
02/23/07 10:47 AM
Copyright 2003
The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Bonesville.net contributed to this report.
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