An honorable opponent
UH baseball fans are expected to root-root-root for the home team in tonight’s 2018 opener.
But it also would be difficult to root against Air Force when head coach Mike Kazlausky says things like this (in an interview with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser):
> “These young men have all raised their right hands and said they’re willing to die for our country. Yes, we’re going to come out and play baseball. But it’s really about the journey. They’re going to learn and mature and transform and develop, so at the end of the day, we’re not making them into baseball players, we’re making them into warriors.”
> “After nine innings, whatever happens, we’re going to walk across and shake the hand of the Hawaii Rainbows. And it’s going to happen all three days. I don’t know what’s going to happen on the left side or the right side regarding the win-loss column. But it’s just a game at the end of the day.”
> “These young men who are putting on the Air Force uniform, all we’re doing is preparing them for war five years from now. After they graduate, it’s no longer a game. The next game they play is called ‘war.’ They’d better be ready. These young men wearing our baseball uniform are ready. We develop leaders of character. Immediately, when they’re 22 years old and they walk across the stage and throw their hats in the air, their job and responsibility is they are overseeing over 80 percent of our Air Force as an officer. We do expect them to know how to be a leader. We expect them to know how to train and equip. That’s our expectation as a country.”
> “These young men have all raised their right hands and said they are willing to die for you. How do you root against kids who are willing to do that for us?”
> “I woke up today. I’m happy to be alive. I’m going to be judged by someone bigger than my wife someday. I have to make sure I’m doing it right.”
Yes. Thanks for the reminder. And thank you to the young men and women who make that commitment.
after 52 years, I made contact with 5 of my fellow platoon mates from our Officer Candidate School class, OC 3/66, 3rd Platoon, 52nd Company, 5th Student Battalion, OC Brigade, Fort Benning, GA.
our company motto was: Perfection is not our goal — it’s our Standard — we started with 35 and graduated 23
we are planning a reunion in Las Vegas in March 2019 — that would be 53 years after we threw our caps into the air and went our separate ways as brand new 2nd Lieutenants.
much story telling to be heard — one went on 2 tours in Viet Nam into an area never seen/visited by US troops – his infantry platoon came under enemy fire every day for 12 months — this first tour was very bloody where he won 2 Silver Stars, purple heart with clusters, and other medals
we know of 2 classmates who perished in Viet Nam so there will be an empty table with a single rose and a folded American Flag
GOOD MORNING, HAWAII!
Yesterday, my brother-in-law’s father-in-law was buried with full military honors. He had served in the Air Force for 23-years.
As his casket was carried by, I saluted the flag and him though I was in civilian clothes, and my time in the service was only for two years.
I was proud of him and people like A-House and my brother-in-law who served our country. It was not necessarily the time served but the fact that they did serve.
Great post, Stephen. We love when you bring the personal angle to the page. Mahalo to all the young athletes in our service academies.
It take dedication, courage and hard work to be a Warrior. Hawai’i’s Warriors included.
one of the best things about our military academy and its athletes is that, at least in football, each team will gather with their opponent at game’s end to pay tribute the opponent’s almamater
knowing that they will probably encounter each other in the future — in peace or war — and need each other to defeat an enemy during conflicts
yet, there will be intra-service disputes like basic Armor students fighting with officer career course students recently returned from Viet Nam because they started “hitting” on the wives of my fellow classmates — our base commander, a Major General, was most unhappy because it happened at the base swimming pool!
and, life goes on!
i will presume that “off-season” training has started for the footballers getting ready for spring ball
met Jason Rivers at Keeaumoku Street Verizon and he said he never ran so much in his life to prepare for their “run-n-shoot” under June Jones
hope all the receivers pay heed to Coach Rolo’s statement that they better come prepared to do a lot of running during spring ball or be left behind!!
Tom, current regs allow vets to salute while in civies when the flag passes by or at ceremonies such as the singing of the Stars Spangled Banner at the SSC. Even if that were not true…you did the right thing imo.
A-House, seems like I missed you by a few years at “Ft Benning School for Boys”…IOBC. Talk to me about your trip to West Point in Sept next time I see you, please.
al, been leaving voicemail and email for you. Hope you’re doing ok and I’m just doing needless worrying. Please contact me when you can. If someone knows that al is doing well, please post a reply. Thanks
Great Morning All!
Aww…crud!
Now I need to see about re-adjusting my weekend plans so I CAN make it out to the Les at least once this weekend…
😎
bg,
re Sensei al:
😯
Hey DPK,
Spok you and Sweetie bumbai! 😉
Great posr ST!
Meant post
Akamai Okole –
Rajah Dat! Sadly though, Sweetie just came from Doctor’s and has been advised to stay home tonight. I’ll call you later to coordinate outfits and hair products. :laugh:
🙂 🙂 😀 😀 I forgot how to laugh. 🙁
bg — Last time I saw Al was at a tailgate but he wasn’t too mobile and missed the last games. He did post on the blog a few days ago.
You might have missed that Annoddah Dave passed away last November. I didn’t know until cuz Gay at Genji called me because she had heard rumors he had passed away.
Watching the freezing temperatures at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics reminded me of something my dad told me about his service during the Korean War. Dad rarely spoke about his time in Korea, avoided our questions about the war, and avoided Korean cuisine. His only comment came when watching M*A*S*H reruns when he quietly said that there were no trees or any animals where he served – all the trees were either destroyed by the artillery or cut down as firewood due to the extreme cold, and all animals (domesticated and wild) were used as food by the starving civilians.
I recently researched his service records and found out that he was with the 5th Regimental Combat Team stationed at Schofield when they were deployed to Korea in July 1950 and later saw action in September 1950 in the Battle of the Pusan Perimeter. This made me realize the horrors of war that he lived through, and I instantly knew why he never talked about Korea, avoided kim chee and lived the rest of his life as a devout christian.
Thanks dad and to all veterans and active duty military for your service.
I’m cringing so hard right now, haha.
The brainwashing that goes on…”When these kids die, they’re dying for the whoooole country!”
Unfortunately they’re never told that they were really being used to protect private companies and their financial interests in foreign countries.
All the military does is turn humans into robots. Kinda sad to watch.
Cringe, if it makes you feel safe.
Cringe, if it makes you feel safe.
Mr. Tsai, I urge you to impose drug-testing in addition to bot-testing.
Can SA comment on our teams, players, coaches or opponents?
Baseball team looked good tonight. Lopez can really fling the ball at 3rd base.
New post: http://www.hawaiiwarriorworld.com/?p=45444