Courtesy Photo | Col. Mark Ritter (left), chief of staff, Task Force Band of Brothers, and Col. Mark...... read more read more
Sgt. 1st Class Thomas Mills
1st BCT/3ID PAO
FOB SPEICHER Tikrit, Iraq - Nearly 30 years ago two US Army officers played high school football together in Bedford, Ind. Today they have found themselves together again, this time working to help rebuild Iraq.
Col. Mark McKnight, commander, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Task Force Band of Brothers, and Col. Mark Ritter, chief of staff, 101st Airborne (Air Assault) Division, Task Force Band of Brothers, both graduated from Bedford North Lawrence High School where they played receiver and quarterback respectively on the football team.
"I think we rode the bench together for a long time," laughed Ritter. "He (McKnight) could catch the ball," he went on. "He had good hands and a good attitude."
McKnight's memories of Ritter are similar. "He (Ritter) was a hard hitter and a good football player," he said.
Task Force Band of Brothers, headquartered by the 101st Abn. from Fort Campbell, Ky., is responsible for a wide area in north central Iraq. In Iraq the Task Force is based out of Forward Operating Base Speicher near Tikrit.
McKnight's unit, the 1st BCT, a unit from the 3rd Infantry Division, is also based out of FOB Speicher and has been part of Task Force Band of Brothers for about three months.
They are very different units, one a light air assault division and the other a heavy mechanized brigade.
The fact that Ritter and McKnight have known each other since high school has helped the two usually very different units work together.
"The good thing about this," Ritter said, "is some prior relationship makes the coordination easier (between the two units)."
Ritter and McKnight's paths to the military were different as well.
Ritter went on to United States Military Academy at West Point and a career as an officer in the Army having played his last season of high school football in 1976. McKnight didn't graduate until 1979 and his road to the Army went through Indiana State University.
"I didn't even know he joined the Army," Ritter admitted. "We met while we were captains at Fort Benning, (Georgia)."
From there, Ritter said, they ran into each other occasionally before they were together attending the Army War College where they graduated in 2003.
Both Ritter and McKnight have fond memories of their youth in Bedford.
"I grew up with the World War II generation, that was my mom and dad," said McKnight. "So every weekend we went to the American legion."
"What's kind of neat about it is the Hoosier Hills Armed Forces Family Association has shown a lot of support," said Ritter.
The association has sent care packages to the colonels while they are in Iraq.
"It's good to compare notes with Colonel McKnight about what he got in a care package," Ritter said.
Even though the years separate them from their days on the Bedford football field both colonels stay young at heart.
"You never think your going to become the old man or the colonel but you do," McKnight said. "But you still kind of have the heart of the lieutenant or the high school kid so sometimes you have to pinch yourself and say, hey, you're the (colonel) you used to look at and say, "Man, he's old.""
| Date Taken: | 01.06.2006 |
| Date Posted: | 01.06.2006 09:37 |
| Story ID: | 4291 |
| Location: | TIKRIT, IQ |
| Web Views: | 663 |
| Downloads: | 75 |
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