Nov 7, 2009 5:28 pm US/Mountain
Army-Air Force Game Opens With Moment Of Silence
AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AP) ―
Players, fans and cadets at the Army-Air Force football game paused for a moment of silence Saturday for the victims of the Fort Hood shootings.
The brief observance at Falcon Stadium was also meant to remember soldiers from nearby Fort Carson who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Army players wore the insignia of the 4th Infantry Division, which is headquartered at Fort Carson, on their jerseys.
About 40 squadrons of cadets from the Air Force Academy and West Point stood at attention on the field, their pennants fluttering in a stiff, cold breeze before the national anthem. The announced crowd of 46,212, many of them military personnel in uniform, stood quietly in the stands.
Air Force won, 35-7. Afterward, Army coach Rich Ellerson said the team had spoken about the Fort Hood shootings, but he declined to say how it affected the players
"I think mentally we were in the right place," Ellerson said. "We were prepared emotionally to compete. We were conscious of those events. We took some more on ourselves because of those events. Need to do that for four quarters, though."
The shootings hit some Fort Carson soldiers especially hard. About 2,000 servicemen and women transferred from Fort Hood to Fort Carson this year under an Army reorganization.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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