Sgt. Zach Detweiler – One Player, Two Teams

Football Team Honors Teammate Serving in Iraq

MANSFIELD -- Mansfield University football player Zach Detweiler got up early in the morning two weeks ago to prepare for his day. It was the day of the first game of the season.

Typically Detweiler has butterflies in his stomach before the start of a game and that day was no different. His stomach and mind churned as he thought about the coming battle and what his responsibilities were in making his team successful.

It was already hot, even for early September, as he went through his usual routine of putting on his uniform and gear before finally snapping the chinstrap of his helmet as he took the field against the enemy.

But, unlike his fellow teammates who were going through the same type of preparations in Buckhannon, WV as they prepared to take the field of battle against the Bobcats of West Virginia Wesleyan in their season opener, Detweiler was about to hop into the gunnery seat of his M1A1 Cougar 25 tank for his 44^th mission in the last 40 straight days to battle insurgents outside of the hotbed of Ramadi, Iraq, the scene of some of the heaviest action in the war.

Although Detweiler and his Mountaineer teammates were separated by 6,378 miles on that opening day of the football season, they were bound together by a closeness that comes from serving together in the same unit -- be it in football or war.

It’s a special bond that only teammates can experience and his football teammates were determined that somehow, in some way, Sgt. Zach Detweiler was going to be with them that day.

“When we came back for football preseason camp in early August we heard about Ryan Ostrom (a MU student who, like Detweiler, was a member of the National Guard) being killed in action in Iraq,” said Paul Garofalo, a junior running back on the Mountaineer football team and friend of Detweiler. “We just started talking about what we could do to show Zach we were thinking about him and the idea of keeping him on the roster just seemed to be the most meaningful way to do that.”

Being on the roster means you belong, and for better or worse, you are part of the team. The 2005 MU football roster list #80 as Zach Detweiler and explains that he is currently on assignment serving his country in Iraq.

The official 2005 team photo has Co-captains Keith Slezak and Jamar Foulks holding Detweiler’s #80 in front of the entire team and coaching staff. But the players wanted to do even more and came up with the idea of having long sleeve shirts printed to wear as part of their travel uniform to all games.

The shirts, which feature the Mountaineer football helmet and an Abrams Tank side-by-side, simply states:        

TEAMMATES

                                    2005

                                    Mountaineer Football

                                    Charlie Company 1/103^rd Armor

                                    Camp Habbaniyah, Iraq

                                    #80 Sgt. Zach Detweiler

                                    One Player – Two Teams

Detweiler, who communicates with team members by e-mail after his unit bought their own internet satellite system, checks the Mansfield sports information webpage as often as he can between his daily patrols in the suffocating heat of his gunnery seat, locating roadside bombs (IED’s) and finding and detaining known insurgents.

He was touched by the spirit and concern of his teammates at Mansfield an honored to be listed on the roster with them.

“The guys are what I miss the most,” e-mailed Detweiler after a 14-hour day in the field. “They make football fun and that is what matters in the end. It’s the friendships we make. It may not always be fun, but the guys you are with make it fun. Just like over here, sometimes it is hard and you are tired, hot, dirty and hungry and everything seems horrible. Then a friend will crack a joke and all is good because they are going through the same thing you are and they can understand the way you feel. I think that describes football and war.”

The Mountaineer football team has struggled early this season and is currently 0-2 on the season. They have been hot, tired and hurt and the season contains more months of difficult challenges. But most of them think of what their teammate is going through in Iraq and things don’t seem quite as difficult.

“Last year,” remembers Garofalo. “The only thing that really worried Zach about playing football was not doing something that would let the team down. We just wanted him to know we feel the same way about him.”