I would have put something up about this sooner, but I liked Ted's last posting so much that I left it alone for the Fourth of July.
But Brad Childress went on another tour of the Middle East with some of his fellow NFL coaches. . .Marvin Lewis of the Bengals, Andy Reid of the Eagles, and John Fox of the Panthers. . .and got to Afghanistan to shake hands and talk with some of the men and women serving in theater. Well, one of the hands he was shaking was one that he didn't immediately recognize. . .even if he probably should have.
The uniformed soldier staring back at Minnesota Vikings coach Brad Childress on the tarmac Friday morning looked similar to the other young men he had met this week during a USO tour of American and NATO military bases. Then Marine Lance Cpl. Andrew Childress started speaking, and Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan went from being the latest stop on a goodwill mission to a surprise homecoming. "I'm looking him right in the eye and didn't know who the hell he was," Childress said about his son. "He was much thinner. He looked at me with no mustache, no hair, but then I heard his voice and knew it was him. "It was very emotional. Big hug. Hard to describe." Yes, Andrew Childress, the son of our head coach, joined the USMC back in 2008 and left for Afghanistan back in May. Arrangements were made to get the younger Childress from the location he's currently at to Bagram Air Base, where the coaches landed after spending a couple of days at Ramstein AB, Germany. Big props to everybody that was involved in making this reunion take place. I can't imagine how huge this must have been for both father and son. And props to Childress, Lewis, Fox, and Reid for doing this for the troops in the first place. Of course, as you'll read in the story, there's only one thing that most of the troops wanted to ask Brad Childress about. . .I bet you'll never in a million years guess what it is. Continue enjoying what, hopefully, is a day off for most of you. . .I know it is for me. . .and we'll see you back here tomorrow!