note: army fumbles again

(courtesy photo)

Someone in the Pentagon owes a thank you note to Ted Thompson and the Green Bay Packers.

While the biggest story of the weekend revolved around the Wisconsin-based soap opera As the Favre Turns, the U.S. Army was quietly trying to sweep a public relations mess under the rug after once again mishandling a story involving the National Football League.

That’s because, on the eve of training camp, the powers that be in the Department of the Army decided to call an audible and force rookie safety Caleb Campbell, who was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the seventh round of the NFL draft, to head for the showers so that his alter ego, 2nd Lt. Caleb Campbell, could returned back to West Point immediately for duty.

Surely, there was an explanation, right? No one would object if it turned out that Campbell was in a high-demand branch the Army was understaffed in and was needed immediately to deploy in support of the Global War on Terrorism. Football is supremely popular in our culture, but not to the point that anyone expects troops to be picked off the battle lines in favor of playing special teams and garbage time for a perennial loser in Detroit. All it would take is one high-ranking officer standing in front of a podium explaining that this was the case and no one would have thought twice about it.

But much like the Pat Tillman nightmare, the Army assessed the situation, figured out the worst possible way it could play out and then called that play.

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