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LB Danny Clark on NFL-USO Tour
By Michael Eisen, Giants.com

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MARCH 5, 2009

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - Danny Clark's warm-weather attire has changed little in the last six years. Most days he'll wear a T-shirt and one of his two pairs of camouflage cargo shorts. He bought the shorts to honor his brothers, Jason and Joshua Brooks, when they entered the military.

Giants LB Danny Clark is over in the Persian Gulf with the NFL-USO Tour

Those shorts have taken on a special poignancy this week. Clark, the Giants' veteran strongside linebacker, is one of four NFL players on an eight-day NFL-USO tour of military bases throughout the Persian Gulf. He made sure to pack his shorts and will be wearing them when he visits with the service men and women.

"I won't change what I've been doing," Clark said prior to his departure. "I'm taking the shorts to Iraq with me."

Clark has many reasons for making the trip but above all else is the opportunity to get closer to his brothers by learning more about their lives in the military.

"I don't care how many pictures or stories they tell you - to set foot on that earth in that part of the world and understand what they have seen and the trials and all of the adversity they go through - it will help me in football," Clark said. "It will help me in my life ultimately to understand what you need to be thankful for on a day-to-day basis and to see what the citizens of that country are going through. And to see what the soldiers are going through on a day-to-day basis. I think that it will definitely open my eyes to so many different things and really make me accept and be thankful for what I have here."

Clark is joined on the tour by Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jared Allen, Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald and St. Louis Rams linebacker Will Witherspoon. Last year, Osi Umenyiora, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell traveled to Iraq and Afghanistan to meet with service members.

The NFL has long been involved in service visits. In 1966, the NFL teamed with the USO to become the first sports organization to send a group of players to Vietnam and other parts of Asia. In the past, such stars as Johnny Unitas, Larry Csonka, Don Meredith, Howie Long, Dick Butkus and Terry Bradshaw have visited troops on NFL-USO tours in such locations as Bosnia, Iraq, Japan, Korea, Kuwait and Somalia. Last year, in addition to Umenyiora's trip, Luis Castillo, Tommie Harris and Mike Rucker traveled to Afghanistan.

Clark didn't have to think twice about joining this year's journey.

"My brother is going back to Iraq for his third tour next month, which is crazy," Clark said. "I want to be a part of that. When I was asked if I was interested, I said, 'Man, totally.' My objective is to be able to affect those guys in a positive light and bridge or connect and let them know what is going on and what the morale of the people here at home is and to lift the morale of the soldiers."

Of course, some question the sanity of those who voluntarily travel in war zones.

"And a lot of my friends said, 'Are you going to Iraq? Are you crazy?'" Clark said. "I said, 'Yeah, I'm going.' And despite what has been going on over there I think it will be secure and safety will be first and foremost for us. It is an opportunity that I cannot pass up."

Especially considering how his brothers have served their country. Joshua is in the Marines Corps, while Jason is in the Air Force. Both have been deployed overseas more than once, Joshua in Iraq and Jason in Afghanistan and now Korea.

"They've had totally different experiences," Clark said. "Joshua drives trucks, so he is a huge target. He had a 50-pound gun on top of his truck. Joshua has definitely been in a lot of dangerous situations. But time and time again he comes home unscathed. But I always think about those roadside explosives and things of that nature. Somehow he has escaped it all.

"Jason - during his time in Afghanistan, he was off somewhere working on a base. He is an electrician, so he does a lot of mechanical work off base. In the heat of the battle they will joke about each other and Josh will say, 'Maybe I should have gone to the Air Force.' But he loves being a Marine because he is in the thick in the things." 

Jason recently began another tour of duty, while Joshua is scheduled to report next month.

"Jason just went over for a year's tour in Korea," Clark said. "He left last month. I got to see him and his son before he left. He got to come home for about two or three days and I got to meet his family - his girlfriend and my nephew, who I hadn't seen. He is one-year old. That was an emotional deal, because Jason is a family guy. We are all family guys and he was about to go for a year's tour in Korea. It was very emotional for him, because he was going to be away from his son for a year. So that was a tough little deal."

Joshua, meanwhile, is starting to know Iraq almost as well as his hometown outside of Chicago.

"They called him back for a third tour - he is not very excited about that," Clark said. "He's about 6-3 and 265 or so - he's bigger than me - and has to lose 20 pounds. He can definitely play D-tackle or D-end on our team, but unfortunately he has a prior obligation."

Clark said his brother thought he had permanently put Iraq in his rearview mirror.

"When Obama was the president-elect Joshua wrote on his Facebook page, 'I guess I'm not going back to Iraq.' He was cheering and happy about it. But for whatever it means to the country and for anyone, he will do it.  But he did it for four years and he got out.  And so here he is still on reserve status and they still called him. He was in school and working so he had to get out of his norm and get back to (Iraq in the second week in April).

"He was just getting settled in. He didn't show many signs of post-war depression, didn't have any issues. He was a 23-year old kid that had seen a lot more than I have, a lot more parts of the world than I have. And he was settling into our society with no issues. We were happy for his progress. He was taking classes at a local school until he got into Northern Illinois. It is tough for him" 

The NFL traveling party will visit several bases each day. The players will have an opportunity to speak to and share stories with the troops, pose for photos and sign autographs.

As Umenyiora saw last year - and the Giants experienced when they visited Walter Reid Army Medical Center in April - the service men and women are sometimes in awe around professional athletes. But the players are quick to remind the brave people who defend our country that they are the true heroes. Clark will forcefully deliver that message as well.

"It will be a great experience to meet them," Clark said. "I know they look at us as heroes. My brother used to phone back home when he was in Iraq.  And he would ask me how the team was doing and tell me we were the heroes and stuff like that. But I must tell you, those guys are my heroes. Their game is a lot different than ours - it's the game of life. And there is a lot more at stake than what we do on the football field. But I think it definitely brings them back home and lets them know that everybody is behind them and cheering for them and we are extremely thankful for what they have done and what they are doing on a daily basis."

Clark said his brothers often speak of the children they meet on their tours of duty.

"Josh talked about the kids on the side of the road in Iraq," said Clark, who recently completed his ninth NFL season and first with the Giants. "He rode through a little town and you have little kids running up to your truck and they call them 'Mr...Hey, Mr., Mr.' And they are looking for candy. He talked about when the soldiers came through in Desert Storm in 1991 and the soldiers would give the kids Skittles. And the kids all came running for that. So when it came to war this time, his first tour over there a lot of soldiers had passed on the word, 'Make sure you take candy; give them Skittles.' And he was joking with me that the kids were over Skittles. They said, 'We don't want Skittles, we want something else.' They were looking for different candy. That's a story that really hit home with me, because Skittles is my favorite candy. I should have some over there - when I throw it, hopefully they won't throw it back because they don't want it anymore."

Now Clark has an opportunity to share some of the experiences his brothers have had for the last several years.

"They are excited," Clark said. "They are like, 'Man, it will be a heck of an experience.'"

What was the most important piece of advice offered by Joshua or Jason?

"Make sure you protect your laptop, because sand gets into everything," Clark said. "Sand will get in places you wouldn't imagine. Sand can wear down just about any and everything. So you want to be careful with it."

While visiting a war zone, Clark will no doubt be careful with everything anywhere he goes.