Blackledge, Jackson hook up in another hostile environment

Ron Bracken

The same passing combination that thrilled so many Penn State football fans and brought the Nittany Lions a national championship in 1982 hooked up again recently.

And this time Todd Blackledge and Kenny Jackson, as lethal a pass-catch combination as the Nittany Lions have ever had, put smiles on a lot of faces in a far more hostile environment than Pitt Stadium. Blackledge and Jackson, along with six other former NFL players including former Ohio State linebacker Chris Spielman, spent eight days in Kuwait earlier this month as part of the USO’s Operation Gridiron: Huddle with the Troops.

It was just another “Go” pattern for the two former Penn State teammates.

“Todd called me and asked me about it,” Jackson said. “He said he had contacted some other guys who were afraid to go but he said it would be safe. I said, ‘Todd, you have little kids. Are you all right?’ When I mentioned it to my wife, she threw me out of the house. She said ‘Go.’

“It was amazing. So many of those guys kept coming up to me and thanking me for taking the time to do that. I said, ‘Why are you thanking me?’ You’re the ones who are making it possible for me to go home and spend time with my family.’ I felt so secure when we went to those bases.”

The group stayed at Araf Jan base in Kuwait and Jackson was impressed with the facilities there. “They had a Burger King and a McDonald’s right there on the base,” he said. “And they had a Starbucks that was better than what you see here in the states.

“I got a haircut on a Sunday for $5. And the food was better than any training table I ever ate at, including the pros. I had a chance to ride in a tank going 50 mph and drive a speed boat in the Persian Gulf. That was a blast. We watched the NCAA (basketball) tournament at 4 in the morning. They gave us fake beer because it’s a dry country.”

But the real purpose of their trip was to serve as assistant coaches for teams involved in a Flag Football tournament. Jackson was taken by that.

“The talent was amazing,” he said. “There were some guys there who definitely could have played college football. It’s really competitive; they really go at it. We had a girl on our team — she was the center — and she got mad when we took her out of the game.

“Flag football is really big over there. They love the sport. We played the games at night. The fields were all sand but they were lined. It was a lot of fun. It gave the troops a chance to get away from their day-to-day life.’’

Part of that life is living in an environment where temperatures can reach 140 degrees in the summer.

“We were lucky, it was only in the 80s when we were there,’’ Jackson recounted. “But water was available every minute.’’

So too were reminders that they were in a foreign land and not far from where a torn ACL or a sprained ankle were minor injuries compared to what could happen in a heartbeat.

Jackson and the rest of the group were taken on tours of the Naval Hospital at Bethesda, Md. and Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. prior to leaving on their trip. At those places they saw the price paid by the troops deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

What they saw was a type of toughness that makes the NFL seem like a playground.

“I never experienced anything like it,’’ Jackson added. “I saw amputees who just wanted to get out of there and continue on with the service. They felt like a team. They just wanted to be with the other guys. I’d say probably every one of them had lost at least one friend.’’

The USO group was 12 miles from the Iraqi border, “Not too far from Sadr City,’’ Jackson said. “We never went into Iraq.’’

But on a daily basis they saw the troops getting ready to go there, to go into harm’s way knowing they might come back with any number of horrific injuries, if they came back at all.

“I saw 19-year olds getting ready to go into combat and they were nervous, but they were prepared,’’ Jackson said. “It was like a team, they felt like someone would be there to hold their hand. I could feel it. It opened my eyes.’’ Ron Bracken is the sports editor of the Centre Daily Times. He can be reaced at 231-4641 or rbracken@centredaily.com.