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Whatever your opinion is, forget it.
I'm not saying change it. I'm not saying your opinion is wrong. I'm saying erase it, delete it, because whatever your opinion is on Caleb Campbell, you have no right to it.
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| Caleb Campbell (13) played his way out of the Armed Forces and into the NFL. (Getty Images) |
Caleb Campbell chose the NFL over war. He chose Detroit over Afghanistan, the Lions over the U.S. Army. He chose, when you get right down to it, a pretty fun life over the possibility of a rather gruesome death.
If you still think you've earned the right to your opinion on Caleb Campbell, well, maybe you have. Did you serve in the armed forces, did you get deployed to a war zone, and for weeks or months did you awaken on a daily basis knowing this could be the day you die?
No?
Then sit this one out.
I am. And it's not easy for me to sit out anything. I've got an opinion on Switzerland, for God's sake -- bunch of wimps -- but not on this. Not anymore, I mean.
I wanted to have an opinion on this situation, believe me. When I saw Campbell, a safety for Army, had been drafted in the seventh round Sunday by the Lions, thereby triggering a little-known and rarely used Army rule allowing a cadet to forego most or all of his active duty to pursue a career in professional sports, I had an immediate reaction. I won't tell you what that reaction is, but to research the story I originally planned to write, I walked into a Cincinnati recruiting office on Monday morning for material on joining the Army. Me being 38, I was too old -- so I said the material was for my son. I didn't say my son is 12.
Try that some day. Forget joining the Army, though if you're brave enough, have at it. For everyone else, try simply walking through the doorway of a recruiting station. When you do it, try to imagine those who already have walked through that doorway. Lots of people, courageous people. Lots of them now dead. That's one of those doorways that will change your life, and might possibly end it. And yet people walk through every day to join the armed forces, whether as an enlisted grunt or as a college student at Army or Navy or Air Force, knowing that their four years of college -- the time of your life! -- will be followed by active duty during a war that has raged for more than five years and has killed more than 4,000 U.S. servicemen and servicewomen.
After walking through that doorway a second time -- on my way out -- I surrendered my opinion on Caleb Campbell and the Army and whether they were right or wrong to let him skip active duty for the NFL.
There are arguments for either side of this story, compelling arguments (as if there could be any other kind), and the public opinion battle is being waged around the Internet. It's a passionate fight over Campbell, almost hard to watch, because strangers aren't discussing whether the Lions wasted a precious pick on a safety who's too slow -- or whether they stole a sleeper late in the draft. They're arguing Campbell's right to skip his commitment to fight in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The case against Campbell is irrefutable. He signed on to play football for Army, and to receive an expensive education and training, and he did it in the middle of war. He knew the risks in 2004. He chose the Army anyway, never knowing he might avoid battle in 2008. The rule he is capitalizing on -- foregoing active duty in exchange for recruiting duties and an eventual stint in the reserves -- didn't exist when he arrived at West Point. Even though the rule exists now, it doesn't seem fair. The rest of his classmates will go overseas. Some will die there while Campbell is playing for the Lions.
The case for Campbell is irrefutable. It might not be the original plan, but he'll still serve his country -- as an active recruiter and later in the reserves. He's not moving to Canada to duck the war or shooting himself in the foot to get discharged. He's not capitalizing on a loophole. This rule was created by the Department of Defense for people exactly like Caleb Campbell. And let's be honest: He had the chance after his sophomore season to duck the issue completely by transferring to any of the football schools who wanted him. He decided to stay, in part because of the creation of this very rule.
The case for the Army is simple. It needs as much positive publicity as it can these days, and the death of another high-profile athlete -- another Pat Tillman -- would not help the service's dwindling recruiting and retention numbers. Caleb Campbell could fight for his country as one soldier ... or he could help recruit 10 or 20 or more future soldiers by playing in the NFL and telling the Army's story.
The case against the Army is simple. It risks undermining the morale of troops by picking and choosing which soldiers can and cannot avoid the fight. It sends a message that suggests some lives are worth more than others. And it opens the possibility of a coach recruiting an athlete to West Point under the potentially false -- and fatal -- premise that the athlete would be able to avoid the war zone by turning pro.
Neither side is right, and neither side is wrong. Campbell's future isn't a math equation that can be boiled down to one indisputable solution. So if you're looking for an opinion from me on the matter, here's the best I can do:
Caleb Campbell is the most complicated story I've ever seen in sports.
