After returning home from my second tour in Iraq this past summer, I went searching for a Steelers blog that would get me caught up on all things Black and Gold that I had missed while overseas.  I discovered BTSC and was instantly hooked.  I thought I knew Steelers football until I began reading this site, but I have learned so much from all the insight and analysis you regulars provide on a routine basis.  And huge props to Blitz for running this well-oiled machine.

With the playoffs only a few short weeks away and a magical "there's something about this team" feeling in the Steeler Nation air, I decided to join the festivities and introduce myself by way of my own personal Steelers-magic story.

In the fall of 2004, I was a sophomore at the University of Maryland, working towards a Bachelor's in Criminal Justice.  Life was great - I had a new girlfriend (now fiancée), classes were easy, and there was this new young quarterback in Pittsburgh who had an uncanny ability to win games.  Then one day towards the end of the semester, I got the word that my National Guard infantry unit was being activated in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.  This would be the unit's first overseas deployment since it helped storm the beaches of Normandy on D-Day.  Although upset about having to put school on hold and leave friends and family, I had always figured that this day would come, as I enlisted after 9/11, and more and more reserve resources were being used.  So in January 2005, with as good an attitude as possible, I hit the pause button on my life and set out on an 18-month adventure.

The first part of the deployment involved a few months of training down in Georgia.  Being state-side was nice because we still had our cell phones, internet access, and of course, football on Sundays.  I never missed a beat in following the Steelers' playoff run - holding my breath as the Jets missed two field goals late in the 4th quarter, exhaling a sigh of relief when Skippy knocked down the game-winner in overtime, and then staring at the screen in sickening disbelief as Rodney Harrison took a Big Ben pick to the house in the AFC Championship Game.

With the 2004 Steelers season officially in the books, I was able to concentrate on other things, such as how to stay alive on the streets of Iraq.  We finished our training in April 2005, said one last sad goodbye to friends and family, and headed across the pond to the big sandbox.  Units headed to Iraq spend a few weeks in Kuwait, conducting more specialized training and getting used to the heat.  A quick word on the early-summer Kuwaiti heat - I'm the type of person who enjoys new experiences and surroundings, and can adapt accordingly to such changes.  But it was freakin' hot.  The best way I've found to realistically describe it is this: imagine putting your face next to the open door of a hot oven while simultaneously blowing a hair dryer right in your face.  Seriously, summertime in Kuwait is no fun.

In early June 2005, we loaded up into C-130s and flew north into Iraq.  Fortunately for all of us, the average summertime temperatures in Iraq are maybe 10-15 degrees cooler than those in Kuwait, so it was a comfortable 110°F when we arrived.  We spent the summer conducting combat patrols in central Iraq, trying to stop the knuckleheads from blowing us and innocent civilians to pieces.  It was a long, tiring few months of work, but things got better as fall approached.  The temperature began slowly dropping, we were getting very good at our job by this point, and I made a monumental discovery - you can watch live, NFL football in Iraq!

The Armed Forces Network (AFN) airs the marquee matchups live each Sunday (early Monday morning, local time) and the Monday Night Football game the following night.  Now two things had to happen if there was going to be any chance of me actually seeing my beloved Steelers play while I was overseas: 1) the Steelers game had to be one of the featured games, and 2) I had to be back at the base and not out on the streets at the time these games were being played. 

Here comes the first magical part of this season - I would have been ecstatic to see the Steelers play even a few times.  I mean, we had some internet access, so I could always read up on the past week's game to keep informed if need be.  But honest-to-goodness, I saw the Steelers play either 11 or 12 times!  (To this day I cannot remember which number it was).  By sheer coincidence, we seemed to never be out on a mission during those precious few weekend football hours.  It's not like there is any difference between a week and a weekend when you're at war...it just happened that way.  And of course, thank you Steeler Nation for being everywhere - so much so that AFN felt compelled to air the Steelers game almost every week!

So the fall season rolled along, with me doing my job, Big Ben and the boys doing their job, and me somehow being able to watch them do it.  I saw 2 out of the 3 heartbreak games that they lost in a row, and then saw all 4 of the must-win, season-ending games.  When they beat Detroit in Week 17 and clinched that Wild Card spot, I was excited for many reasons - one of which was that way back in June, I had requested January as my month for going home on leave.  My reasoning was that I would rather get the bulk of the deployment out of the way before going on leave, so that when I returned from my 15-day leave, I would only have a few more months to go.  Playoff football was just a bonus.

Now here comes the real magic.  I was randomly given a leave date in early January 2006.  The date is more of an approximation, because you have to fly from Iraq back to Kuwait and then wait to be processed out for a flight home.  This can take anywhere from a day to 5 days, so you can only give an educated guess as to when you'll actually be home.  Again, no exaggeration, my family picked me up from my home airport on the morning of January 8 - the day of the Wild Card Game against the Bungals. 

I never missed a second of action as I watched Palmer go down and out and the Steelers advance to the 2nd round.  I screamed at the top of my lungs and did some crazy victory dance when Porter and Farrior wrecked Peyton Manning on 4th down inside the Colts 5 yard line to apparently seal the win, only to have my heart completely shut down as The Bus fumbled at the goal line.  Big Ben saved my vacation with The Tackle, and then of course there was The Miss, for the victory.  The following weekend, I got to watch the AFC Championship Game in Carlisle, PA, with my immediate family and a ton of aunts and uncles and cousins - all of whom are die-hard Steelers fans.  What a great blowout win and an awesome time I had visiting and celebrating with family.  Even though my leave was over and I had to fly back to re-join my unit the next day, I knew two things: 1) I was extremely blessed.  Somehow, over the course of a 15-day leave, I had been able to see ALL of the Steelers AFC playoff games!  You couldn't have scripted it any better.  And 2) we were going to win the Super Bowl, no doubt about it. 

The story finishes back in Iraq.  Super Bowl Sunday arrived, and my unit was actually scheduled to go out on a mission that evening.  I was in no position to complain after all the awesome things that had already happened, so I wasn't even terribly upset about having to miss the game.  (Like I said, I already knew what the outcome was going to be).  A few hours before we were supposed to roll out, my platoon sergeant came over to me and told me that since I was the only Steelers fan in the platoon, he was giving me the mission off.  "Enjoy the game," he said.  I was too happy for words.  Later that night, at 2am, when the game was about to air live back home, I stuck my Terrible Towel in the pocket of my uniform pants, grabbed my rifle, and strolled over to the building with the TV.  Surrounded by a group of Steelers fans, we watched with joy as Faneca opened up a gaping hole for FWP's historic run, Randle El hit Hines in stride, and the Black and Gold took one for the thumb.

Fast forward to present day.  I have since been deployed back to Iraq a second time, but I made it through that one as well.  Now I am out of the military and graduating from Maryland in four days.  I can think of one graduation present that would make me very very happy...

...LET'S GO STEELERS!!!