New York Giants Official Website

Real Heroes
By Michael Eisen, Giants.com

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JUNE 8, 2009

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - It is impossible to identify a group of Americans more highly regarded by Tom Coughlin than the extraordinary men and women who serve in the nation's armed forces.

The Giants' head coach admires the courage, sacrifice, optimism, discipline and determination of the soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen (and women). Coughlin is particularly appreciative that every one of them has chosen to be in the military and did so knowing their lives could be on the line in any number of situations and locations, including Iraq and Afghanistan.

Now Coughlin is going to get a taste of that life. The NFL announced today that Coughlin is one of five current or former head coaches who will travel to Iraq later this month with the inaugural NFL-USO Coaches Tour. He will be joined by former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher; Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher; former Oakland Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden; and Ravens coach John Harbaugh. The coaches will travel to meet and greet service members for several days in the Persian Gulf region.

"This is something I've wanted to do for years," Coughlin told Sports Illustrated's Peter King, "and I can't tell you how excited I am, and all the coaches are, to be making this trip. It's a great chance for us to recognize the real heroes of this country. Our troops need to know how much we appreciate what they're doing, and I mean every one of us in the NFL and every one of us in the country."

Coughlin was planning to visit Iraq even before he was approached by the NFL. He had previously been invited by Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the commanding general of the multi-national force in Iraq. Odierno is a Rockaway, N.J. native and fervent Giants fan who has made several visits to Giants Stadium and the team's training camp in Albany. Odierno told Coughlin he wanted to take the coach to some of the country's more remote bases.

"The General asked me first," Coughlin said. "I was headed over there anyway, as his guest. None of the details were set, but I was going. And then the league and USO got involved. And what I told the General was, 'Look, I don't want to miss anything that was going to happen with you.'"

Coughlin's journey to Iraq is the latest chapter in his interest in and support of the nation's military, both of which have grown considerably since he joined the Giants in 2004.

The coach cherishes his friendship with Odierno, who spent a day at Giants Stadium and posed for photos holding the Vince Lombardi Trophy soon after the Giants upset New England in Super Bowl XLII. Last Aug. 1, Odierno was in Albany to watch practice and speak to the team at Coughlin's invitation.

"I'm very proud of what you all accomplished last year," Odierno said. "What makes this group so special is that you're a team first, you care about each other first, and if you do that, you will always be successful."

All Giants fans know of the inspiration provided by Lt. Colonel Greg Gadson during the team's championship season. A former West Point teammate of wide receivers coach Mike Sullivan, Gadson lost both of his legs while serving in Iraq. He first spoke to the team on Sept. 22, 2007, the night before the Giants earned their first victory of the season in Washington. Gadson was on the sideline when the Giants defeated Green Bay in the NFC Championship Game and the Patriots in the Super Bowl.

Gadson's most arduous rehabilitation took place at Walter Reed Army Medical Center outside Washington. Last year, the Giants visited wounded men and women at the hospital before being honored later that day at the White House. Coughlin was clearly moved as he spoke to youngsters fighting so hard to overcome grave wounds and who were so willing to return to Iraq or Afghanistan.

Coughlin's affinity for the military comes naturally. He values honor, discipline and bravery. And he grew up in Waterloo, N.Y., which is the birthplace of Memorial Day.

"I have always had a natural interest in the history of our country and always, always had great respect for those who served," Coughlin said. "And (I) had, as all Americans had, a very deep and touching emotional experience involved in 9/11 and also a personal experience in 9/11 because of my son. And then having had an opportunity to get to know personally someone of General Odierno's responsibility, if you will, and to learn the quality of person that he is, to have had a chance to spend a lot of time and get to know somebody the quality of Greg Gadson and learn about him. Mike Sullivan is a West Point graduate and (defensive line coach) Mike Waufle is a very, very highly decorated Marine.

"I have always had a great of deal of admiration and respect for the sacrifices that people who serve our country in the military make. In my time it was the Viet Nam War. I was not a service man; I was not in the military. It was all by lottery and things of that nature. But today, these people who are in Iraq and Afghanistan are volunteers. To spend time with them is to be able to sense the intelligence and the passion of these people and to stand in admiration and awe of this combination. Because, in the business I am in, you try to figure out what makes people tick and what makes someone an extremely successful individual in their chosen line of work or as an athlete. It is the combination of not only ability, but intelligence and determination and dedication and the heart.  I have always been an admirer of those combinations. And I find them in this type of person that I'm describing to you."

Coughlin enjoys talking to members of the military - whether it's a powerful general like Odierno or Justin Bleill, a young Marine who was learning to walk on prosthetic legs when Coughlin met him at Walter Reed - because they are candid and blunt.

"Maybe I'm a little bit older in life; maybe I'm looking at things a little bit differently," Coughlin said. "Maybe I'm trying to enjoy the opportunities that this wonderful position has given me to meet these kinds of people. And I don't think it is happenstance. I relish the opportunity to meet these impressive people. Because you know what - the other thing that is so important to me, I can't stand phonies. I can't stand the BS that goes along with, to be honest with you, a job like this sometimes. There is none of that in any of these people, believe me. These are straight forward, honest, forthright people that cut right to the chase. I'm not interested in conversing about BS."

Coughlin's newest involvement in military affairs is his support of the Wounded Warriors Project, a non-profit organization that tries to raise awareness and enlist the public's aid for the needs of severely injured service men and women, helps severely injured service members aid and assist each other, and provides unique, direct programs and services to meet the needs of severely injured service members.

The WWP was founded by wounded veterans in Jacksonville, where Coughlin remains enormously popular from his days coaching the Jaguars. One of the early supporters of the project was Cary Chartrand, the Chairman-CEO of Acosta Sales and Marketing Company, a member of the board of directors of Coughlin's charity, the Jay Fund Foundation, and a close friend of the coach. At Chartrand's request, Coughlin last month attended the WWP's fourth annual Courage Awards & Benefit Dinner in Manhattan.

A portion of the fine money Coughlin has collected from the players was donated to the Wounded Warrior Project.

"I put together the list of people or organizations that can be donated to and the players pick - I think it is five or six or maybe even 10 (of them)," Coughlin said. "Most money is awarded to the number one pick and so on. But yes, we have donated to the Wounded Warrior Project with player fine money."

NBC Sport's Bob Costas was the master of ceremonies and among those in attendance was Bill O'Reilly of FOX News, a staunch supporter of both the WWP and of Coughlin. Gen. Odierno was also there, having flown in from Iraq to attend the graduation of his son, Tony, who earned a master's degree from NYU. Tony Odierno is a West Point graduate who lost his left arm when a rocket-propelled grenade slammed into his Humvee in Iraq.

"My quote as I was sitting there watching the ceremony is, 'Americans may very well be split on their politics concerning war, but they are not divided in terms of the recognition of their warriors," Coughlin said. "It is 100% - in my opinion - support, love, honor for those who has served. The gathering that night - there must have been 25 standing ovations. It was unbelievable.  They stayed up; people stayed on their feet forever."

Coughlin didn't give a speech at the dinner, but he talked to numerous wounded veterans. And those involved in the WWP said his interest and support will help boost the organization's visibility.

"Colonel Gadson was such an important part of the Super Bowl year and that's how I got talking to Tom about it," Chartrand said. "I said, 'By the way, in New York City there's a gala. Why don't you come?' He sat at our table and got exposed to it even more. I know that they (Coughlin and his wife, Judy) had a great time. They had videos about these kids that come back all maimed. I glanced over and I saw tears coming from Judy's eyes. I know Tom was choked up about it as well."

"We invited him to the gala because of his work with Lt. Colonel Greg Gadson and his support for our wounded warriors," said Adam Silva, the WWP's Director, Resource Development. "Having him there for our warriors was a big lift. We have a large New York presence. We also have a lot of athletes. A lot of these men and women that are getting injured in battle were high school or college athletes. They all know who Coach Coughlin is. Having him there was an inspiration. The Vice President of our board, Dawn Halfaker, came up to me kind of sheepishly in the middle of dinner and said, 'Do you think coach would mind taking a picture?' Dawn was the captain of the Army women's basketball team at West Point. She sacrificed her right arm in combat in Iraq. I said, 'I don't think he'd mind.'"

Mind? Coughlin was honored to stand next to Halfaker.

"I met some terrific young people," Coughlin said. "I met a gal who was a West Point grad (Halfaker). She not only lost her arm, but she lost her shoulder. I had never seen that.  She had lost her shoulder and that is why she can't have a (prosthetic device)."

Coughlin sat at a table with John Fernandez, who was once the captain of the lacrosse team at West Point. A few months later, he was in Iraq.

"I was injured in the beginning of the war, in April 2003 in the initial invasion," Fernandez said. "I was actually hit with an Air Force bomb - it was a friendly fire incident. I was a field artillery platoon leader and we were firing rockets just south of Baghdad. And we got mistaken for enemy aircraft fire. We were shot at."

The result is that Fernandez is a bi-lateral amputee - both of his legs were amputated below the knee.

"I'm proud of the fact that I was injured in Iraq, I'm proud of the fact that I was hurt serving my country," Fernandez said. "So I don't hide it. I'm not ashamed of it. I almost think it's an educational thing. It's always fun when I show up to my daughter's preschool wearing shorts. The kids think it's like a robot. But it makes them aware that people can be different and still accomplish a great deal."

At the dinner, Fernandez received the George C. Lang award, which is the Wounded Warrior Project's highest honor. He was wearing a suit and goes to great lengths to live as normally as possible. Coughlin had no idea Fernandez uses prosthetic legs when they shared a table in New York.

"It was nice to have him there to see that he cares about what the Wounded Warrior Project does and what we stand for," said Fernandez, who realized his objective of scoring a goal in an Army alumni lacrosse game. "He deals with professional athletes all day every day. And to see that he holds the men and women that serve in the military in such high regard, it's reinforcing. And it sets the bar for what others in this country should be thinking about and it shows that there needs to be a focus on the men and women that are serving and the men and women that are being injured, which is something we as a country tend to lose sight of every day because it's not on the front page of the paper and hasn't been for quite some time.

"The men and women that are in the armed forces are doing the right thing, regardless of what your thoughts are on the war and the war on terror or us being in Iraq or Afghanistan. It does matter and it just sets the right example. I like to think that someone like Coach Coughlin, and Coach Coughlin specifically, gets more out of it than some of the guys he visits. I've been around it for so long and I've gotten so much pleasure from dealing with wounded warriors every day. When you walk into one of their hospital rooms you can say, well, there's someone worse than me. I think that positive attitude is uplifting for anyone. Hopefully, it helps coach put things in perspective. It's a win-win for everyone."

Coughlin, whose support is so strong for everyone in the military, will soon be traveling to Iraq to meet them on their turf. The NFL and USO have organized overseas morale-building visits for more than 40 years. In 1966, the NFL teamed with the USO and became the first sports organization to send a group of players to Vietnam and other parts of Asia, demonstrating the league's support for America's troops.

In the past four decades, NFL stars including Terry Bradshaw, Larry Csonka, Franco Harris, Howie Long, Don Meredith, Lynn Swann and Johnny Unitas have visited servicemembers on NFL-USO tours in such locations as Afghanistan, Bosnia, Iraq, Japan, Korea, Kuwait and Somalia.   Last year, Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora and New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees joined NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on a USO trip to Iraq and Afghanistan. In March, Giants linebacker Danny Clark, Jared Allen, Larry Fitzgerald and Will Witherspoon spent 10 days traveling through Iraq and Kuwait visiting the troops.

"When you think about what really is important and what they do and give to this country," Coughlin said, "I can't imagine not being supportive of their tremendous efforts."