As I grew up and got more interested in sports Dad became my coach. ), best-selling author of Lions of Kandahar, Pages: Rain that day had turned the practice fields to mud, so we worked out in the gym, wearing sneakers and pads. “You can’t be afraid to write a new chapter and close up on another chapter,” Rodriguez recalled Swinney saying. But no sooner was his first book, “Rise: A Soldier, a Dream and a Promise Kept,” published in 2014 than bookings came in from sports franchises (Arizona Cardinals) and Fortune 500 companies (Google, Cisco Systems) alike. Rodriguez was born on October 23, 2000 in Bakersfield, CA to Ivonne and Dagoberto Rodriguez. While there, he made a promise to his best friend: “When I get out of this shithole, I’m going to play college football.” Daniel made it out; his friend didn’t. ©2020 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. “We treat these soldiers and athletes with the same mentality that they don’t need help, or that they can overcome any mission or fight through the pain,” Rodriguez said. My father was about five-foot-eight, and my mother a shade over five feet; obviously I was never going to be a big kid. This week’s camp is a soft opening of sorts. Nous voudrions effectuer une description ici mais le site que vous consultez ne nous en laisse pas la possibilité. Sign up for the Army Times Daily News Roundup to receive the top Army stories every afternoon. I was maybe five-foot-three by then, but pretty quick, so they asked me to give it a try.
I nodded again.

A couple weeks into the season the backup varsity quarterback got hurt and the coach needed someone to run plays for the scout team. He has served tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, rising through the ranks to sergeant. “I felt, in that moment, that my friends were taking hits for the rest of their lives. Combat vet-turned-Clemson star will soon get his own movie, Bronze Star recipient Daniel Rodriguez pumps up Clemson, The end of tanks? One day, he’ll teaching route-running; the next, let campers loose on an obstacle course. “When you leave your spot or your career, you have this downfall of your purpose. When he posted a video online of his grueling training efforts, it went viral overnight. I don’t know how he found the time. He wanted nothing more out of life than to provide for his family. While themes from Rodriguez’s military and football career figure in every speech, he’s constantly refining his message. Either on the field or on the battlefield. They were high school sweethearts (middle school, actually!) In 2009, he fought in the Battle of Kamdesh, one of the bloodiest battles in the Afghanistan conflict, earning a Purple Heart and the Bronze Star Medal With Valor Device. This content is currently not available in your region. It wasn’t until I enlisted in the Army and found myself surrounded by kids who had dropped out of school or been arrested or raised in poverty that I began to appreciate what a comfortable life I’d led while growing up. He was on his way home for the holidays. You also agree to our Terms of Service. Yeah, you had a cool time in the NFL, but you’re not playing anymore. “Regardless, preseason or not I was fighting for a spot and had a chance to play in the NFL. Later, and even though he hadn’t played soccer in 13 years, his performance at a multisport combine yielded a contract offer from a third-division Swedish club. You need education to succeed in this world.”. We use cookies and other technologies to customize your experience, perform analytics and deliver personalized advertising on our sites, apps and newsletters and across the Internet based on your interests. Rodriguez arrived at his machine gun just as Kevin Thompson, another soldier, was coming outside. That’s a lost world, that’s a world people don’t really understand.”. Genetics trumps everything. United States Army. Soldier United States Army. I have vague memories of trailing after my dad when he went to work and running around the base. If people ask me where I’m from, I tell them Stafford. The importance of getting a college degree was always impressed upon me while I was growing up. Swinney, who’d given the Army combat veteran an opportunity to play 37 straight games based on a viral YouTube video, likened life to a book. My mother, Cecilia Rodriguez, worked as an assistant in an ophthalmologist’s office. Almost immediately, he was deployed to Iraq and then to Afghanistan. Daniel Rodriguez credits a blow to the head with helping him see the light. It’s been a great time.”. “It’s not the same story,” Rodriguez said. My parents would talk occasionally about hard work and ambition, but mainly they led by example. Yes, you’re a veteran, but you’re not in uniform anymore.

“It was one of those things where I wasn’t necessarily chasing, but any athlete doesn’t want to give up and say they’re not good enough.”. My father knew that, so he got the hell out of Dodge when he graduated from high school in 1974, then enlisted in the Army because he thought he was going to get drafted. I didn’t play much, but I had a uniform and a spot on the roster. Join to Connect. After returning home, Daniel was unemployed and stuck in the clutches of PTSD, but he remembered the promise he had made and resolved to make good on it.



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