Napier: ‘A Lot We Can Learn From These Special People’

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The man in the military uniform stood on the sideline Wednesday night, waiting for the Gators to conclude practice. He had his young son, the one he didn’t meet until the boy was 4 months old, standing next to him.

As the Gators prepared this week to face South Carolina on Saturday in the “Saluting Those Who Serve” game, a member from each of the four U.S. military branches was requested to address the team. Air Force Capt. Tom “Filthy” Rich, a 20-year veteran with 11 deployments to his credit, had been invited by Gators head coach Billy Napier to speak.

Napier has placed a premium on the initiative in his first season at Florida.

“We need to have the utmost respect for these people who have chosen a path to serve and protect these freedoms we have,” Napier said. “I think this is something that’s very important. It gets overlooked. I think we all can agree that, at times, we’re walking around living life, and we don’t really appreciate that we have a set of people that risk their life every day.

“I think it’s one of the things that we can do independent of football that can create good — a place where we respect and appreciate what we have. We want to do that each year and celebrate these people. I think they’re deserving.”

 

Teamwork. Brotherhood. Accountability.

This week we are hearing from members of our armed forces ahead of our “Saluting Those Who Serve” game. Thank you to Gunnery Sergeant Trey James for sharing your message.#GoGators | #jOURney pic.twitter.com/0wp4TTBue8

— Florida Gators Football (@GatorsFB) November 9, 2022

It didn’t take Rich long to get choked up in talking about one of those people who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

In January 2010, Senior Airman Bradley Smith was killed by an improvised explosive device near Kandahar, Afghanistan, while supporting a combat operation during Operation Enduring Freedom.

Rich shared the story with the Gators as silence loomed inside the team’s indoor practice facility.

“Brad was on a mission. He was on an overwatch position. His buddy, his counterpart, his teammate, gets blown up,” Rich said. “Without thought, he grabs the platoon medic. He runs down. They retrieve the body. They retrieve another soldier that was injured. They get him to safety. And now they’re like, ‘hey, we’ve got to go back for the other guy.’ The other guy was dead. He was cut in half.

“And [Brad] got killed by another IED on the way back. Brad was from my unit.”

The Air Force in 2012 named a…