Overseas military tour 'humbled' Hartsock
Titans tight end Ben Hartsock earlier this week returned from Afghanistan, where he spent 10 days visiting U.S. troops as part of a goodwill tour.
He shook countless hands, signed hundreds of autographs and, when compared to his life in the states, "roughed it'' while sleeping on base. But he doesn't want a pat on the back for doing it.
"People are very quick to praise those of us who went because of what we did,'' Hartsock said. "But I really try to stress (that the soldiers) are the ones that need to be praised and thanked for what they do month after month after month, instead of a couple of football players taking 10 days to go see them.
"I was very humbled and honored to have a chance to spend time with these soldiers. It was an incredible experience for me.''
As part of a "Super Sunday Tour" arranged through the Pentagon, Hartsock joined Raiders guard Cooper Carlisle, Panthers punter Jason Baker and a few cheerleaders from the Cincinnati Bengals.
Hartsock spent five days at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and three days in Qatar on the Persian Gulf. The group was scheduled to visit even more bases overseas, but a snowstorm early in the trip limited the travel.
Last offseason, Titans cornerback Nick Harper made a similar goodwill tour, as he traveled to Iraq with several NFL players.
Hartsock said it was an experience he'll never forget.
Among other things, he saw F-15 fighter jets and Apache fighter helicopters, and he toured central command, though he noticed the maps were covered up "so we wouldn't see anything we weren't supposed to see.''
While he spotted protection bunkers around the base and heard jets and helicopters taking off on missions, he said he never felt threatened, in part because the group had a military escort at all times.
"The soldiers, they were so happy for anybody to be there. Not everybody was a huge football fan, but everybody was just happy that there was someone there interested in what they were doing. I had so many guys come up and they just wanted to show you, 'This is what I do. This is where I sit. This is my role in this operation.' Everyone was proud of what they did,'' Hartsock said.
"Now, some people got to sit in cockpits of Apache fighter helicopters ? other people sat behind a desk ordering supplies for everybody. But they were equally as excited about what they got to do.''
Hartsock also met a group of soldiers from Fort Campbell and some from Nashville. As Titans fans, they were thrilled to see him walk in the first day in his Titans jersey, he said.
But perhaps the biggest thrill came when they gathered ? at 3:30 a.m. ? to watch Super Bowl XLII. About 100 soldiers got up early to watch, on a projection screen, the Giants upset the Patriots.
"That was a whole lot of fun,'' Hartsock said. "In a lot of ways, it was just like watching a football game with a lot of friends, though a lot of these guys had loaded rifles at their sides.''
Ben...you were a starting tight end on the first national title football team in 34 years. You won't have to send out any flags.