FORT SILL, Okla. (July 3, 2013) -- As a native of Texas, football has been the one sport my family has unanimously followed since I was a child.
We'd sit in the living room at grandmother's home on Thanksgiving Day, drink sodas, eat an assortment of food, laugh, joke and catch up on the times with family members we hadn't seen in months.
The Lone Star State has gravitated toward the sport so much that it is synonymous to most people with three things: tasty barbecue, doing everything on a grand scale and football.
Football, and generally all sports, has a special way of corralling family members and individuals from different ethical, cultural and geographical backgrounds together in the spirit of fun and camaraderie.
In that same spirit, members of 3rd Battalion, 13th Field Artillery assembled at Cameron University Football Stadium to support their fellow Soldiers in the final round of the unit's football championship tournament June 27 in Lawton.
The battalion consists of four battery-size units, which participated in the tourney, spread out over a two-week period.
The championship game featured 66th Forward Support Company defeating B Battery 32-12.
"Team work was our main goal," said Shawn Norville, 66th FSC cornerback. "Everyone played and had fun; it was a good event and spurred good morale for the unit."
After a defensively-sound first quarter, the team's offenses began to operate smoothly as the battle on the gridiron progressed. Once one team scored, the other answered back with a score of its own.
"When the game was tied up," said Norville, "we got a little tight so we had to pick it up a little more. Then we turned the tables and started playing better."
Eventually, the 66th FSC pulled away in the fourth quarter.
In spite of one team being able to earn the title champion, the battalion turned out to be the true winner.
"Honestly, even though we did take the big O today, I felt like the motivation was amazing," said Ethan Jones, offensive tackle, B Battery. "I think that this is the kind of thing that builds trust."
Jones said sports, teamwork, having fun and combat-related training will collectively contribute to the success of the unit when it operates on the battlefield in an actual combat environment.
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