[AZAggie]

I missed this on ESPN Gameday this morning, but thought the article was worth posting.

Texas A&M Athletics Texas A&M’s Mark Dodge to be Featured on ESPN College GameDay

Texas A&M’s Mark Dodge to be Featured on ESPN College GameDay

For Immediate Release
Friday, September 8, 2006
Toolbox



COLLEGE STATION, Texas- Texas A&M junior linebacker Mark Dodge will be the subject of one of the featured stories on ESPN College GameDay’s tribute to the five-year anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. This edition of College GameDay can be seen Saturday, September 9 at 9:00 a.m. (central) on ESPN.
Dodge was in the Pentagon filling out paperwork on his top-secret security clearance on the morning of September 11 when hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the building. After the attack, Dodge aided search-and-recovery efforts in and around the Pentagon.
Dodge spent four years in the military before he began his college football career, serving in the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, traditionally known as “The Old Guard.” The oldest active-duty infantry regiment in the Army, The Old Guard is the official ceremonial unit and escort to the President. Dodge, who earned the rank of sergeant in just two years, has attended several state dinners and chatted more than once with President George W. Bush and many other world leaders in the areas of politics, sports and entertainment.
After enrolling at Texas A&M for the spring semester and going through spring drills, Dodge received the E. King Gill Aggie Spirit Award. He was also elected by his teammates to serve on Texas A&M head coach Dennis Franchione’s Leadership Council.
In the Aggie’s season opening win against The Citadel, Dodge burst onto the Texas A&M football scene as he fought off a block and made a bone-jarring tackle for loss in his first play from scrimmage. On the very next play, he lined up and made his second tackle and forced a fumble that led to a touchdown on the offense’s ensuing possession. Later in the fourth quarter, Dodge made a key stop on fourth down to help seal the win for the Aggies. For the game Dodge had seven tackles, including one for a loss and forced a fumble.

[AZAggie]

Here is a link to the ESPN feature.


http://agclips.com/images/football/2...ge_gameday.wmv

[Gotham Dark Knight]

Originally Posted by AZAggie

I missed this on ESPN Gameday this morning, but thought the article was worth posting.

Texas A&M Athletics Texas A&M’s Mark Dodge to be Featured on ESPN College GameDay

Texas A&M’s Mark Dodge to be Featured on ESPN College GameDay

For Immediate Release
Friday, September 8, 2006
Toolbox



COLLEGE STATION, Texas- Texas A&M junior linebacker Mark Dodge will be the subject of one of the featured stories on ESPN College GameDay’s tribute to the five-year anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. This edition of College GameDay can be seen Saturday, September 9 at 9:00 a.m. (central) on ESPN.
Dodge was in the Pentagon filling out paperwork on his top-secret security clearance on the morning of September 11 when hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the building. After the attack, Dodge aided search-and-recovery efforts in and around the Pentagon.
Dodge spent four years in the military before he began his college football career, serving in the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, traditionally known as “The Old Guard.” The oldest active-duty infantry regiment in the Army, The Old Guard is the official ceremonial unit and escort to the President. Dodge, who earned the rank of sergeant in just two years, has attended several state dinners and chatted more than once with President George W. Bush and many other world leaders in the areas of politics, sports and entertainment.
After enrolling at Texas A&M for the spring semester and going through spring drills, Dodge received the E. King Gill Aggie Spirit Award. He was also elected by his teammates to serve on Texas A&M head coach Dennis Franchione’s Leadership Council.
In the Aggie’s season opening win against The Citadel, Dodge burst onto the Texas A&M football scene as he fought off a block and made a bone-jarring tackle for loss in his first play from scrimmage. On the very next play, he lined up and made his second tackle and forced a fumble that led to a touchdown on the offense’s ensuing possession. Later in the fourth quarter, Dodge made a key stop on fourth down to help seal the win for the Aggies. For the game Dodge had seven tackles, including one for a loss and forced a fumble.

maybe all those kids getting in trouble (like Maurice Clarette, etc) could be sentence to watching the documentary to learn about being a positive role model.

[AZAggie]

Here is another nice article on Mark Dodge.

MySA.com: Big 12


Football: A&M linebacker finds escape from 9-11 memories


Web Posted: 09/11/2006 12:18 AM CDT


Mark Dodge
Texas A&M linebacker

It's the same dream. I rarely have it anymore, but when I do, it's always the same dream.
We're walking through the building and sifting through the debris. Everything is burned so badly, you can't tell what it is. I notice something in a corner. I realize it's a body.
I reach down to move some stuff from around it. Suddenly, the body reaches up and grabs me. And its eyes open. That's usually when I wake up.
—Mark Dodge

Editor's note: Texas A&M starting linebacker Mark Dodge, 25, was in the Pentagon the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, when a hijacked plane struck the building, killing 189 people. Dodge was serving in the Army's 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment. The company is called The Old Guard, a ceremonial outfit that also serves as an escort to the President of the United States.
Dodge, then 20, and his company helped in the recovery and cleanup efforts at the Pentagon in the weeks after Sept. 11. Here is his account of that tragic morning in Washington, D.C., and the time after, as told to Express-News staff writer Brent Zwerneman:


Friends and family tell me that basic training changed me. But nothing changed my life more than the three weeks I spent helping in the recovery effort at the Pentagon.
Those three weeks gave me a whole lot more perspective on life. I suddenly understood that it can be here one day and gone the next. You deal with people and families who've lost loved ones, and it makes life so much more valuable. It makes you love every day you're given.
I was in the Pentagon the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, filling out paperwork. I was in a mall area of the building and noticed some people gathered around a television. I walked up and started watching and realized one of the World Trade Center buildings in New York had been hit by a plane.
I was watching the TV when another plane hit the second Twin Tower. Shortly after that, American Airlines Flight 77 struck us. We were on the exact opposite side of the Pentagon from where the plane hit, and you felt the building rumble. You could hear it, and you could feel it.
We evacuated the building, and I walked out and looked back. I could see the plumes of smoke coming out of the side of the building. I hurried to my car and drove back to my unit at Fort Myer, close to the Pentagon.
When it happened, it still didn't quite click what all was going on — that it was the same thing happening in New York. I got back to my company, and a big-screen TV was on. That's when I realized what had happened — and that it was the work of terrorists.
Once our unit deployed to the Pentagon, we waited until the firefighters put out the fire. Finally, we went in and started sifting through the debris. At first we looked for survivors, but there clearly weren't any. After that, we focused on body recovery and helping engineers secure the structure with pillars.
There was a four-foot high pile of debris. You could see all the way across the bottom of the building, because the walls had burned. They brought in heavy equipment and cleared paths so we could walk in there.
It was hot inside and out, but you didn't pay attention to the heat. You just kept moving, wanting to get the job done. We had white chemical suits and helmets and masks and gloves.
You couldn't really tell what anything was, because it had all burned so badly. The metal was twisted, and you walked through who knows what. We pulled out bodies, and some were scorched so badly that you couldn't tell that they were bodies. That was the hardest part — finding the parts that didn't even look human.
After seeing something like that, you wonder what all you had been walking on, and what all you had been sifting through.
Emotionally and physically, it was tough. But you don't really get involved emotionally until you're done with the task at hand. And then, a few weeks later, you're just burned out. You're tired and running all of the stuff through your mind again, and that's when it gets you.
You break down, and you understand what you've just been through — what just transpired. In the weeks after, our company did some of the burials for people who were in the Pentagon that day. That made it even harder, because you felt closer to the families, seeing their faces — because you were there.
I really counted on my mother, Toni Inserra, and my family in the time after. I saw a chaplain on base, and talking to him helped a lot. Later, a counselor at my junior college told me I should get a dog — and that helped. His name is Heath, and he's an English Springer Spaniel.
I try to avoid reminders of Sept. 11. They've had movies in theaters now about it, but there's no way I'm going to watch a movie that has anything to do with that day. There's just no way. It's kind of upsetting, to tell you the truth.
I'd rather them not even think about making movies about Sept. 11, at least for years down the road.
Now, I've got football at Texas A&M. It's an escape. When I sit down for meetings or step out onto that field, it's a release from life. I don't have anything else to think about, other than playing football.
I try to let these guys around me — my teammates — know how good they've got it here. Don't take one day for granted, because it can all be gone in a flash.
Editor's postscript: On his first play for Texas A&M on Sept. 2 against The Citadel, Mark Dodge registered a tackle. On the next, he forced a fumble, as 70,000 fans in Kyle Field roared in delight on the warm September night. The Aggies play Army on Saturday night in the Alamodome.