Army – Navy Game Today

Let me see…my family has always been Army. I was Army. But in fairness, we have had Navy in the family – a since-divorced jerk brother-in-law, in-laws – well, let’s just say I am not conflicted over whom to cheer for. (In fairness, my Navy in-laws are good folks. But they ain’t Army.)

The game will have an unusual feature today you may want to look for – the Navy players will be wearing unit patches from over 100 units. Including at least one Army unit.

The patches come from Navy and Marine Corps units around the world. Many are sent by Naval Academy alumni who have reached out over the season to request that a player wear their current unit’s patch in the annual rivalry game. For others, players will pick a unit in which family members have served or are serving, while others are simple nods to significant moments in history.

Junior Safety Giuseppe Sessi will wear the patch of the USS Truxton, a guided-missile destroyer on which his cousin, Carlos Muniz, a Navy petty officer, is currently deployed.

Makes sense,  that.

Coleman Cauley, a junior linebacker from Macon, Georgia, is wearing a patch for the VMG-352 Raiders, a Marine air refueling squadron based in California.

Still making sense – after all, where do Academy-trained Marine officers come from? Yep, Canoe U, the United States Naval Academy.

Navy nose tackle Landon Robinson was ranked number 13 on the list of strongest collegiate players, and the 2024 co-MVP of the 2024 game is considered the strongest on the Navy team (powerlifts last summer of 465 pounds on bench, a 665-pound squat, and 350-pound power clean. Yowzas.)

But in a twist that could only happen at the Army-Navy game, Robinson, a team captain for Navy, will take the field Saturday in Baltimore, Maryland, wearing a patch that honors one of the Army’s most renowned and secretive units, C Company of the Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment’s 4th Battalion — the Chupacabras. The unit’s patch will be stitched to his shoulder, featuring a devilish lizard-figure and the 160th’s regimental motto, “Night Stalkers Don’t Quit.”

Robinson will wear the patch to honor a crew of four special ops aviators from the Chupacabras who were killed in September when their MH-60 crashed near Joint-Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.

The crew were all soldiers, but one of the pilots, Chief Warrant Officer Andrew Kraus, 39, had deep family ties to the Naval Academy and the football team in particular.

Stephen Glenn, a backup punter from North Carolina, will wear a NASA patch from the Mercury-Atlas 6 mission, which sent the first American to orbit the Earth, Marine Lt. Col. John Glenn — Stephen’s great uncle.

There’s also a tie-in to Mission BBQ, a chain of barbecue joints opened by Kraus’ father after his son enlisted in the Marines.  Marine prior service Army chopper pilot.

The chain now has close to 150 locations, many near military bases and operates with unabashed themes of military support. Each day at noon, the staff stop serving as the national anthem is played.

“Every day is Veterans Day for us,” Kraus has said about the chain.  Task & Purpose

Every so often I tell you to go read the article. Before you watch the game, read this one.

For once I’d even be willing to let Army follow Navy and similarly wear patches. It’s a damn good idea.

As long as they don’t lose, that is.

Category: Army, Navy