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Veterans Day 2011

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Chris Aiken, Appalachian State football

Survival and growth, Army MP style

By Michelle Hiskey 
For NCAA.org

On Fridays in the fall, Chris Aiken and his Appalachian State football teammates relax before game time Saturday by watching heroic movies. Aiken’s favorite is “The Kingdom,” a drama in which Jamie Foxx and American government agents investigate a bombing in the Middle East.

Aiken’s own path to the Apps is dramatic and involves desert combat, too.

He joined the U.S. Army out of high school, a 5-foot-9, 170-pound “little chubby kid,” as he says, who had only played football as a high school senior.

In two tours of Iraq with the 978^th Military Police Company, Aiken quickly grew out of his uniforms. He hit a growth spurt, aided by daily physical training.

“I grew to 6-foot-1 and 260 pounds before I got out,” said Aiken. “In my spare time, all I could do was lift weights. I was a big guy, but I didn’t know if football would happen for me.”

Aiken’s basic training in football came via Blinn College (Tex.), where he helped win a National Junior College Athletic Association title with future Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Cam Newton.

Then Aiken headed north, to an Apps team that five years before had welcomed Marine Corps vets Wayne Norman and Brian Stokes. 

Military service molded Aiken’s fearless football mentality. At 27, he’s already survived lethal situation, so little about a mere sport intimidates him. Plus he’s now 315 pounds.    

“My toughness for football has always been high, because I feel like no matter how big the guy is across the line from me, if he  isn’t going to kill me, there isn’t any reason for me to be scared,” Aiken said.

The bonding and adrenalin rush of NCAA Division I/FCS football helps fill the void left in Aiken after being honorably discharged.

“I miss the bonds with different friends in Iraq. I miss shooting weapons all the time. I miss sleeping in the woods [during basic training], believe it or not,” Aiken said. “But in the end, I wouldn’t trade playing football for anything.”

Aiken plays in honor of an Army buddy, James Hale, who was killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) and left behind a wife and young daughter. Aiken had a similar experience with an IED  going off on a road  he was driving while deployed.

Another time, a rocket-propelled grenade landed near his Humvee, but was a dud. “The worst injury I’ve had was maybe a sprained ankle when I played in junior college,” he said. “I’ve never been hurt.”

This weekend, his Apps play rival Western Carolina in the “Battle for the Old Mountain Jug” trophy Saturday in their final conference game.

On Friday, he expects teammates may mention his service. Some will probably thank him. On Veterans Day 2010, Aiken found out many have family members in the military.

“It’s humbling that they don’t forget what I have done,” Aiken said. “It’s a good feeling to have brothers on a team – in the Army and here.”

Michelle Hiskey is a freelance writer and a former golf student-athlete at Duke.