How Could You Not Pull For This Guy?

[50's PONY]

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Posted on Sun, May. 28, 2006



Corps values
With military background, Texas A&M linebacker isn't just any recruit
By CHAREAN WILLIAMS
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

COLLEGE STATION -- Aggies linebacker Mark Dodge doesn't wear khakis or a traditional crew cut. He's not even a Texan, for Reveille's sake.

But since arriving on campus for the spring semester, Dodge, a junior college transfer, has fit right in at Texas A&M.

He has George Strait's The Seashores of Old Mexico as his ring tone, and a cowboy hat and boots are on his shopping list. He enjoys fishing and hunting. And, while growing up in a small farming community in Nevada, he showed sheep and cows in 4-H and competed in calf roping and steer riding in rodeos. His career plan is to work for the United States Department of Agriculture.

Dodge also is a conservative Republican with a military background, having served four years in the Army after high school.

He is thought to be the first A&M scholarship football player with a military background since the war years. Josh Amstutz, a Marine who received a Purple Heart serving in Iraq, was a walk-on for the Aggies football team in 2004 but never played.

Dodge already is penciled in as a starting linebacker in the Aggies' new 4-2-5 defense, alongside Justin Warren, and recently was voted to the team's leadership council.

"He is a special kid," Aggies coach Dennis Franchione said.

Only 4 percent of A&M's student body of 45,000 are in the Corps of Cadets, according to the school's University Relations, but the corps remains at the heart of the Aggie Spirit.

That's why, even though Dodge has yet to play a down at Kyle Field, Aggies already have fallen in love with him.

"Obviously, a lot of the members of the corps are going into the military and are preparing for that kind of lifestyle, so we appreciate people who have served," said A&M senior Jackson Dashiell, the incoming corps commander. "We obviously respect him for what he's done for the country, and we'll support him just like any Aggie football athlete."

Dodge, though, isn't just any Aggies football player. His story is one movies are made of.

A day that changed a life

Dodge was in the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, traditionally known as "The Old Guard" -- the Army's official ceremonial unit and escort to the President. The oldest active-duty infantry regiment in the Army, having served the country since 1784, participates in more than 6,000 ceremonies a year.

Dodge, who earned the rank of sergeant in two years, attended state dinners, a Daytona 500 and an NCAA women's basketball Final Four. He has chatted more than once with President Bush and has met Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Hanks, Mariah Carey, John Travolta and Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, among others.

"A lot of people wish they had a chance to be in my shoes," said Dodge, 25. "Not many people get to see the people I got to see. I had a blast."

By happenstance, Dodge was in the Pentagon on 9-11, filling out paperwork for his top-secret security clearance. He had joined a crowd around a TV, watching news coverage of the attack on the World Trade Center, when, at 9:38 a.m. EDT, the Pentagon shook.

Alarms sounded immediately.

Dodge didn't know it at the time, but hijacked American Airlines Flight 77, traveling at an estimated 350 mph, had struck the southwest side of the Pentagon.

"We were told to evacuate," Dodge said. "It was calm, surprisingly calm, but there was no immediate danger where we were. Once we got outside, you could see the big plumes of smoke."

Dodge put in a quick telephone call to his mother before reporting back to his company at Fort Myer, Va., five minutes away.

The soldiers' search-and-rescue efforts soon began at the Pentagon.

The crash and subsequent fire penetrated three outer rings of the Pentagon, and a large section collapsed, leaving a four-foot pile of debris. Not even the white chemical suit could shield Dodge from the smell of jet fuel and charred flesh.

Finding no survivors in the rubble, the soldiers were left with the grim task of recovering the remains of the 189 people killed in the terrorist attack.

Dodge said he didn't think. He just reacted as he had been trained.

"He still carries a lot of scars," said Toni Inserra, Dodge's mother. "When you're 20 years old, it's absolutely such a shock to your system. You're raking through things, and you're sorting it into human remains and airplane parts and documents....I'm sure he could never rake again without thinking of it. I can't imagine."

Dodge fought his demons at night, waking up in a cold sweat from a recurring nightmare that lasted almost a year and still occasionally haunts him. He talked to a priest and a counselor, and he got a dog, an English springer spaniel named Heath.

"The dog helped a lot," Dodge said. "He's a good cuddler. He was somebody to be there with you."

Still, Dodge hasn't forgotten. His life was changed forever on Sept. 11, 2001.

"You think about all the people who lost their lives in there; you think about their families," Dodge said. "It makes you realize all the things you've been blessed with....It made me more respectful of life in general."

Finding his 'home'

The terrorist attacks prompted Dodge to reconsider his life.

He grew up in Yerington, Nev., a small agricultural community of 3,500 residents where his grandmother still owns a 400-acre ranch. Dodge worked on a dairy farm when he was 14, and his other farm jobs included cutting hay.

Football is what made him special in Yerington. He played receiver and strong safety and made all-state his senior season. But at 170 pounds, Dodge received no scholarship offers.

After he graduated, Dodge worked full time and, for a semester, took a couple of classes at a nearby community college. But Dodge became frustrated that he couldn't devote 100 percent to either, so he followed his cousin, Shane Joyner, into the military.

"I almost died. I had no idea," said Inserra, a single parent to Mark, Josh, 19, and Becky, 17. "...The goodbye was very hard. I tried to be brave, but it was one of those hugs you never forget."

Dodge missed football almost as much as his family during his four years in the service. David Jones, who was in Dodge's company, would join Dodge at a nearby sports bar on Saturday afternoons to watch college football.

Dodge talked football, spent hours in the gym with his mind on football and played flag football for his company.

"When he was there [on the flag team], everybody was excited, because it seemed like they actually had a chance to win," Jones said.

Dodge had gained 35 pounds of muscle by the time he was discharged. Still, not one of 30 junior college coaches returned his telephone calls, including Feather River College coach Rob Cushman.

Dodge went to the Quincy, Calif., school anyway, because it offered a Good Neighbor Scholarship Program, which helped with tuition, and it was close to home.

He showed up for Feather River's spring football practice and immediately won a starting linebacker job. Dodge ended his two-year career as the best player in the four-year history of the program.

This past season, he made 144 tackles, eight for losses, two sacks, five forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries and one interception in earning California All-State honors and second-team All-America accolades.

"I get hundreds of those kinds of calls a year, and 99-point-something percent never pan out," Cushman said. "They don't show up; they're out of shape; they can't play. Mark was real persistent. He kept calling. We didn't say, 'No way.' We just said, 'If you really want to do it, this is when we start.' He showed up...and he showed up a different player than he was in high school four years earlier.

"You could tell right away he was different than the typical junior college recruit, no question about that."

Dodge, one of eight Feather River players to sign with four-year schools this spring, was highly recruited, including by Nevada, where his father lettered from 1975-77. He picked the Aggies.

"None of the other places I visited felt like home," Dodge said of Nevada, Arizona State, Washington and California. "...This place doesn't take long to fall in love with."

The feeling is mutual.

"I'm telling you," said A&M receiver Cody Beyer, Dodge's roommate, "Aggie fans are going to fall in love with him."


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Charean Williams, 817-390-7760 [email protected]





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© 2006 Star-Telegram and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
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[Water Pony]

Thanks 50's:

Excellent post. Mark Dodge is spelled C-H-A-R-A-C-T-E-R !

[smudad]

Well done AG's! I sent a good kid down there. I got a great young man back - in part becasue there are some good examples down there. Sure, there are some jerks too. But, by and large, the real jerks just don't fit in. Politics aside, values are not something to be made fun of in College Station. We love our SMU times. But, those AG times are special as well. I hope this young man does well - even at football.