Home Team

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Mark Sorapuru
  • 7th Space Warning Sqaudron, commander
Beale Air Force Base, Calif. --  This past Veteran's Day weekend I was in my hometown to watch my New Orleans Saints hand the Atlanta Falcons their first loss of the season. I was excited to watch my home team play "our" biggest rivals and about the chance to wreck their undefeated season. Before the game, my fellow fans and I declared it would be our job to inspire the underachieving Saints to victory but I didn't realize that I would be the one that would be inspired. More surprisingly, the source of my new found inspiration would have nothing to do with football.

You see, about 15 minutes prior to kickoff the most important event of the day transpired with little fanfare. Several young men and women assembled on the 50 yard line and, before roughly 70,000 fans, took the Oath of Enlistment. As I stood at attention watching these future warriors swear to serve something much bigger than themselves, I couldn't help but feel inspired by their unselfishness. I was inspired because with a world of opportunities available, these young Americans, with their hands raised, decided to join my team...the Armed Forces of the United States. I thought about how within months, they'd depart for basic training and would soon arrive at bases like Beale Air Force Base.

I thought about them standing on that field ready for the challenge of a lifetime and I felt overwhelmingly proud knowing that my team was ready for them. I thought about the trust that they and their parents were placing in us to lead them. I thought about what their expectations might be and how we were prepared to meet them. I thought about our expectations of them and how we would help them exceed those. How we'd set standards, unwaveringly hold them to those standards and lead them in achieving more than they had ever imagined. I remembered how excited I was to take my oath for the first time and I thought about what a great life the Air Force has provided me and my family. Finally, I thought about my "home team" here at Team Beale and I couldn't wait to return to my unit.

For the rest of the game, I cheered the Saints on to victory dressed in black and gold. But, I'm proud to say that I was re-blued on the inside.