Rams Among 14 Teams Paid By DOD to Display Support of Military

[RamBill]

Rams Among 14 NFL Teams Paid By Department of Defense to Display Support of Military

By 3k @3k

http://www.turfshowtimes.com/2015/5/11/8585027/st-louis-rams-national-guard-payment-military-support

More than $5m has been paid out by the National Guard to multiple teams across the NFL since 2011.

The Rams are one of 14 NFL teams that were paid by components of the Department of Defense to exhibit support of the United States military.

While the Rams were identified as only receiving funds from the National Guard once to the tune of $60,000, many other NFL teams received much, much more. The total since 2011 tops $5 million.

The story is a bit of an uncomfortable one for a couple of reasons.

For one, the NFL wraps itself in the shroud of public faux patriotism. There are seemingly more 1,000-foot flags and service members in an NFL broadcast than in any other save for the programming on the Pentagon Channel (which doesn't exist anymore...). That these 14 teams wouldn't provide those kinds of public support without needing to be paid doesn't exactly match up with the sentiment of that patriotic expression, faux or not.

Secondly, the military, and in this case more specifically the National Guard, have expenditures set aside for marketing. That these funds were used either during NFL games or NFL events doesn't diminish their value. If anything, the sheer popularity of the NFL justifies the attempt to get any awareness of the military you can get in that sphere.

Thirdly, there is a bit of the sponsored vs. native content debate here. There's a general feeling that being fed information that's being paid for isn't necessarily deceptive, as long as it's identified as such. To that end, the idea that these NFL franchises were supporting the military in these instances out of the goodness of spirit isn't quite accurate.

But lastly, and most importantly, it exemplifies the clear divide between the American civilian population and the military population that serves it. Americans as a whole do not understand their military or its culture. As Matt Ufford wrote in his reaction piece at SBN:

If there's a silver lining here, it's that the shadow-sponsored salute-the-troops moments call into question all the other times that the troops are positioned on the field to the benefit of the NFL and the military. How much money did that flyover cost us, and to what purpose? How are the soldiers holding the massive 100-yard flag being compensated? And can we do better than a round of applause for someone in uniform?

No work I've seen does more justice to the civilian-military divide than' James Fallows' extraordinary piece that not only explored the divide but the entertainment products that serve to show, and yes sometimes explain, the military as it is. That vein aside, I think this passage is most relevant to this NFL story:

...yet however much Americans "support" and "respect" their troops, they are not involved with them, and that disengagement inevitably leads to dangerous decisions the public barely notices. "My concern is this growing disconnect between the American people and our military," retired Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under George W. Bush and Barack Obama (and whose mid-career academic stint was at Harvard Business School), told me recently. The military is "professional and capable," he said, "but I would sacrifice some of that excellence and readiness to make sure that we stay close to the American people. Fewer and fewer people know anyone in the military. It’s become just too easy to go to war."

Americans "support" their military in large numbers, but often that support begins and ends with a semi-public show of gratitude and or respect. Perhaps no institution enjoys that distancing better than the NFL. But that they get paid to do so is difficult to accept without question, but it is the set of questions that we've avoided for more than a generation.

The NFL accepting fairly-marked funds for marketing the military to unaware sports fans won't help point us to the answers.

 

[DaveFan'51]

most importantly, it exemplifies the clear divide between the American civilian population and the military population that serves it. Americans as a whole do not understand their military or its culture. As Matt Ufford wrote in his reaction piece at SBN:

I believe this^ to be pure Bull Shit!! The idea that there is a vast divide between the American Military and Civilian population is trumped up BS! There are way too many families were one or both parents, or one or more of their children have served. And they have many friends. For this horse shit to be true!
I'm 0ffended by this assumption. I severed in the Marine Corps, and I have nephews who have or are serving in the Corps, Army and Air force. So I SCREAM BS!! rant over.

 

[ScotsRam]

I'm not American so I don't have a horse in this race but surely the Department of Defense can spend their marketing and recruitment budget however they like?

 

[Alan]

There may be small portions of this article that some might find to be misinformed but the main point expressed here is incontrovertible IMO. It's disgraceful.

 

[12intheBox]

The NFL and/or the teams should have done everything exactly as they did and just refuse the compensation.

 

[Memento]

Good fucking fate. I completely agree with Dave. Likely everyone here has either served or has someone in their family who has served or has a friend that has served. Hell, every proceed from the story I'm writing is going to the Wounded Warriors Project on the behest of my best friend and her husband - who has served, by the way - because I want to support them, not just because they've sacrificed their bodies, minds, and even their lives for me and everyone else here, but because I care about them as people as well, especially the ones who have developed depression or PTSD. Because I've lived with both of them as well, and NOBODY deserves to go through that.

So this author can go to hell with his "people don't really support their troops" bullshit!

 

[Alan]

Exactly my thoughts @12intheBox .

 

[The Ripper]

I believe that the halftime performers at the Superbowl also have to pay to perform

 

[Robocop]

i saw this article a number of days ago. the military is part of the government and our government takes our tax dollars and using it on all kinds of bullshit that half the population will hate. i don't need to give examples. so the military can use their money for promotion thats fine but the NFL shouldn't be getting paid for it and acting like their support is unconditional because obviously its not. and yes there is a disconnect with the public and our military, in terms of ppl simply verbally talking about their support but not actually acting on that support or simply spending time with vets. our servicemen and women are taken for granted and you have to go no further than looking at our current young generations and how many of them talk about and even disrespect our military. most of them couldn't even tell you the last time they even watched the news.

 

[OldSchool]

This article falls short on really informing us. Is the NFL the only sports league, pro or amatuer, that takes these marketing funds? Was the only times the NFL teams in question did things to support the troops when they got paid? Author tells part of the story and fails to deliver in a lot of ways. Sensationalized click-bait journalism at it's finest. Put a title out there sure to get readers riled up then tell half the story and fall short on content and facts.

 

[Alan]

Well said @Robocop .

I'm retired USAF and almost everyone in my family were professional military members. 3 retired Colonels and 4 retired enlisted members. To think that someone who hasn't actually served in the military during wartime could actually view the military the same as those who have is inconceivable to me. Even members of my own family who haven't served don't view military service like I do. How could they?

 

[Spider2YB]

I believe this^ to be pure Bull crap!! The idea that there is a vast divide between the American Military and Civilian population is trumped up BS! There are way too many families were one or both parents, or one or more of their children have served. And they have many friends. For this horse crap to be true!
I'm 0ffended by this assumption. I severed in the Marine Corps, and I have nephews who have or are serving in the Corps, Army and Air force. So I SCREAM BS!! rant over.

You and your nephews service is greatly appreciated.

I have had a few close friends serve, no direct family members. However, I hate to say it but there are large swaths of the American population that go essentially uneffected by war. Other than their political teams taking one side or the other, there are plenty of American citizens whose life in 2010 had no real discernable difference from their life in 1998. I know several people I graduated college with that don't personally know a single active service member. I am of the opinion that one the greatest responsibilities our government has is to make sure we use our military in an efficient, effective, and responsible manner. There were less than a handful, maybe only 2 or 3, of people in the entire United States congress that had family members actively serving, yet they choose when and where we go. I think the decision makers would be less cavalier and careless with military force/lives/spending if they felt more of the pain. I think if we choose to use force, every single American citizen should essentially be sacrificing in one way or another, whether its on the battle field or domestically. And not just with cheesy commercials and feeling good on YouTube when we watch someone come home. I mean with real sacrifice. It's not fair the smaller percentage of servicemen and women and their families. Just my .02.

 

[Corbin]

I'm a bit divided on this subject but I'm very surprised to find out that that the DoD paid teams. I guess it's not that bad if you think about it, DoD is promoting themselves and NFL is the most viewed way to do that I suppose. If it were any other company it'll cost a lot more to do the same.

 

[Robocop]

Well said @Robocop .

I'm retired USAF and almost everyone in my family were professional military members. 3 retired Colonels and 4 retired enlisted members. To think that someone who hasn't actually served in the military during wartime could actually view the military the same as those who have is inconceivable to me. Even members of my own family who haven't served don't view military service like I do. How could they?

will always be my life's biggest regret not serving with so many close friends serving. bad knees and other health issues kept me out. i can't fully understand either so all I can do is support them and sure as hell not stand by when some shit talks or dishonors our men and women. Not to blow up or steal this thread but I came across this article recently that left an impact.


A FRENCH SOLDIER'S VIEW OF US SOLDIERS IN AFGHANISTAN

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Home Most Recent A French Soldier's View of US Soldiers in Afghanistan
December 15, 2014

What follows is an account from a French ISAF soldier that was stationed with American Warfighters in Afghanistan sometime in the past 6 years. This was copied and translated from an editorial French newspaper.

A NOS FRERES D’ARMES AMERICAINS

"We have shared our daily life with two US units for quite a while - they are the first and fourth companies of a prestigious infantry battalion whose name I will withhold for the sake of military secrecy. To the common man it is a unit just like any other. But we live with them and got to know them, and we henceforth know that we have the honor to live with one of the most renowned units of the US Army - one that the movies brought to the public as series showing "ordinary soldiers thrust into extraordinary events". Who are they, those soldiers from abroad, how is their daily life, and what support do they bring to the men of our OMLT every day? Few of them belong to the Easy Company, the one the TV series focuses on. This one nowadays is named Echo Company, and it has become the support company.

They have a terribly strong American accent - from our point of view the language they speak is not even English. How many times did I have to write down what I wanted to say rather than waste precious minutes trying various pronunciations of a seemingly common word? Whatever State they are from, no two accents are alike and they even admit that in some crisis situations they have difficulties understanding each other. Heavily built, fed at the earliest age with Gatorade, proteins and creatine- they are all heads and shoulders taller than us and their muscles remind us of Rambo. Our frames are amusingly skinny to them - we are wimps, even the strongest of us - and because of that they often mistake us for Afghans.

And they are impressive warriors! We have not come across bad ones, as strange at it may seem to you when you know how critical French people can be. Even if some of them are a bit on the heavy side, all of them provide us everyday with lessons in infantry know-how. Beyond the wearing of a combat kit that never seem to discomfort them (helmet strap, helmet, combat goggles, rifles etc.) the long hours of watch at the outpost never seem to annoy them in the slightest. On the one square meter wooden tower above the perimeter wall they stand the five consecutive hours in full battle rattle and night vision goggles on top, their sight unmoving in the directions of likely danger. No distractions, no pauses, they are like statues nights and days. At night, all movements are performed in the dark - only a handful of subdued red lights indicate the occasional presence of a soldier on the move. Same with the vehicles whose lights are covered - everything happens in pitch dark even filling the fuel tanks with the Japy pump.Here we discover America as it is often depicted: their values are taken to their paroxysm, often amplified by promiscuity and the loneliness of this outpost in the middle of that Afghan valley.

And combat? If you have seen Rambo you have seen it all - always coming to the rescue when one of our teams gets in trouble, and always in the shortest delay. That is one of their tricks: they switch from T-shirt and sandals to combat ready in three minutes. Arriving in contact with the enemy, the way they fight is simple and disconcerting: they just charge! They disembark and assault in stride, they bomb first and ask questions later - which cuts any pussyfooting short.Honor, motherland - everything here reminds of that: the American flag floating in the wind above the outpost, just like the one on the post parcels. Even if recruits often originate from the hearth of American cities and gang territory, no one here has any goal other than to hold high and proud the star spangled banner. Each man knows he can count on the support of a whole people who provides them through the mail all that an American could miss in such a remote front-line location: books, chewing gums, razorblades, Gatorade, toothpaste etc. in such way that every man is aware of how much the American people backs him in his difficult mission. And that is a first shock to our preconceptions: the American soldier is no individualist. The team, the group, the combat team are the focus of all his attention.

(This is the main area where I'd like to comment. Anyone with a passing knowledge of Kipling knows the lines from Chant Pagan: 'If your officer's dead and the sergeants look white/remember it's ruin to run from a fight./ So take open order, lie down, sit tight/ And wait for supports like a soldier./ This, in fact, is the basic philosophy of both British and Continental soldiers. 'In the absence of orders, take a defensive position.' Indeed, virtually every army in the world. The American soldier and Marine, however, are imbued from early in their training with the ethos: In the Absence of Orders: Attack! Where other forces, for good or ill, will wait for precise orders and plans to respond to an attack or any other 'incident', the American force will simply go, counting on firepower and SOP to carry the day.

This is one of the great strengths of the American force in combat and it is something that even our closest allies, such as the Brits and Aussies (that latter being closer by the way) find repeatedly surprising. No wonder is surprises the hell out of our enemies.)

We seldom hear any harsh word, and from 5 AM onwards the camp chores are performed in beautiful order and always with excellent spirit. A passing American helicopter stops near a stranded vehicle just to check that everything is alright; an American combat team will rush to support ours before even knowing how dangerous the mission is - from what we have been given to witness, the American soldier is a beautiful and worthy heir to those who liberated France and Europe.

To those who bestow us with the honor of sharing their combat outposts and who everyday give proof of their military excellence, to those who pay the daily tribute of America's army's deployment on Afghan soil, to those we owned this article, ourselves hoping that we will always remain worthy of them and to always continue hearing them say that we are all the same band of brothers".

PERSONAL THOUGHTS ABOUT THE ARTICLE:
For much of this article, the various veterans reading will go 'Well, duh. Of course we do our 'camp chores' and stand our posts in good order. There's a reason for them and if we didn't we'd get our heads handed to us eventually. And, yeah, we're in shape. Makes battle easier. The more you sweat, the less you bleed.'

What is hard for most people to comprehend is that that attitude represented only the most elite units of the past. Current everyday conventional boring 'leg infantry' units exceed the PT levels and training levels of most Special Forces during the Vietnam War. They exceed both of those as well as IQ and educational levels of: Waffen SS, WWII Rangers, WWII Airborne and British 'Commando' units during WWII. Their per-unit combat-functionality is essentially unmeasurable because it has to be compared to something and there's nothing comparable in industrial period combat history.

This group is so much better than 'The Greatest Generation' at war that WWII vets who really get a close look at how good these kids are stand in absolute awe.

Everyone complains about the quality of 'the new guys.' Don't. The screw-ups of this modern generation are head and shoulders above the 'high-medium' of any past group. Including mine.So much of 'The scum of the earth, enlisted for drink.'

This is 'The Greatest Generation' of soldiers.

They may never be equaled.

 

[VeteranRamFan]

Robocop, thank you for that article.

I have never been so proud of my Army then after reading that.

 

[Alan]

Spider2YB with additional insight:
You and your nephews service is greatly appreciated.

I have had a few close friends serve, no direct family members. However, I hate to say it but there are large swaths of the American population that go essentially uneffected by war. Other than their political teams taking one side or the other, there are plenty of American citizens whose life in 2010 had no real discernable difference from their life in 1998. I know several people I graduated college with that don't personally know a single active service member. I am of the opinion that one the greatest responsibilities our government has is to make sure we use our military in an efficient, effective, and responsible manner. There were less than a handful, maybe only 2 or 3, of people in the entire United States congress that had family members actively serving, yet they choose when and where we go. I think the decision makers would be less cavalier and careless with military force/lives/spending if they felt more of the pain. I think if we choose to use force, every single American citizen should essentially be sacrificing in one way or another, whether its on the battle field or domestically. And not just with cheesy commercials and feeling good on YouTube when we watch someone come home. I mean with real sacrifice. It's not fair the smaller percentage of servicemen and women and their families. Just my .02.

Well said Spider.

 

[RamzFanz]

I have served. Many of my friends and relatives have served. We will all say the military is an endless hole for wasting money. It needs to stop. If just to pay a military man a living wage. If just to stop raping the taxpayers.

I saw food wasted by the dumpster load at Pearl Harbor, every meal. As a Marine, we used to go through a warehouse of the army's castaways and take them for their second life. Two ammo pouches missing attachment clips? Move one clip to the other and now you have a perfectly good pouch. Our stories of waste go on and on. The air force is the worst by far. I have a buddy who quit just over the wasted money.

We DON'T NEED teams to be payed to appreciate what WE DID in the military. If they can't honor service on their own, screw them. Fisher may have had nothing to do with this as I couldn't see him supporting it.

 

[Mackeyser]

I believe this^ to be pure Bull crap!! The idea that there is a vast divide between the American Military and Civilian population is trumped up BS! There are way too many families were one or both parents, or one or more of their children have served. And they have many friends. For this horse crap to be true!
I'm 0ffended by this assumption. I severed in the Marine Corps, and I have nephews who have or are serving in the Corps, Army and Air force. So I SCREAM BS!! rant over.

Sorry, Dave, but I'm former Military, too...3rd generation with several cousins, Dad and Uncles who served and are still around... And that's just it. Those that serve tend to have it be a family thing. It's not seen as a cultural or nationalistic duty like it used to.

But the DATA is incontrovertible. LESS THAN 3% of the US Population is directly connected to someone in the military. Knowing "some guy at work" isn't the same thing. That number used to be a ton higher, but as of the latest census, it was less than 3%.

Which means that when 97% of Civilians talk about foreign affairs, they quite literally have NO SKIN in the game.

Rachel Maddow wrote a fantastic book on this phenomenon called, Drift. It was lauded by folks of all political stripes (Dick Cheney even wrote a blurb for the jacket) who intelligently study these matters.

We do have a major disconnect AND we, the people, really don't know our military. Which is a shame. I see the cost of that at the VA all the time...

 

[DaveFan'51]

It's not seen as a cultural or nationalistic duty like it used to.

But the DATA is incontrovertible. LESS THAN 3% of the US Population is directly connected to someone in the military. Knowing "some guy at work" isn't the same thing. That number used to be a ton higher, but as of the latest census, it was less than 3%.

Which means that when 97% of Civilians talk about foreign affairs, they quite literally have NO SKIN in the game.

You may be correct, but I can't believe it!
Just multiply the number of men and women that have served in the military over the past 10 years by 3 ( a Mother,Father, and Service person) And that has to be more than 3% of the population, at least I would think so!
Then throw in all the service people and their families since 1964 and the beginning of Viet Nam! I ain't buying those stats! I may be wrong!

 

[Alan]

Mackeyser with a sad story:
Sorry, Dave, but I'm former Military, too...3rd generation with several cousins, Dad and Uncles who served and are still around... And that's just it. Those that serve tend to have it be a family thing. It's not seen as a cultural or nationalistic duty like it used to.

But the DATA is incontrovertible. LESS THAN 3% of the US Population is directly connected to someone in the military. Knowing "some guy at work" isn't the same thing. That number used to be a ton higher, but as of the latest census, it was less than 3%.

Which means that when 97% of Civilians talk about foreign affairs, they quite literally have NO SKIN in the game.

Rachel Maddow wrote a fantastic book on this phenomenon called, Drift. It was lauded by folks of all political stripes (Dick Cheney even wrote a blurb for the jacket) who intelligently study these matters.

We do have a major disconnect AND we, the people, really don't know our military. Which is a shame. I see the cost of that at the VA all the time...

My Dad, who fought in Korea, told me he thought it started after Korea. People were just so tired of War.

 

[Ramhusker]

Kinda amusing since the NFL has been on the Government teat for nearly its entire existence. Just this year has it given up its preferred tax status. Not sure what is meant by the public not being connected to our military. I know my family has been connected at least as far back as my great great grandfather riding with General Jeb Stuart's 6th Virginia Calvary to my father and mine's stint in the USAF. $5 million is peanuts in the grand scheme of things when you are talking military. Could this author think we have a growing "conscientious objector" population in the U.S. or is it that he is of that guild? I think it might shock him to know how much the military sinks into NASCAR.