"Many
of these people have kids or babies on the way. For some,
this deployment cuts their income in half. So this is a nice
way for the University to say thank you."
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-- Denise Nelson
wife of guardsman
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UM
offers free Griz football
tickets to hometown heroes
Soldiers
in a Missoula National Guard unit are bound for Iraq later this month.
But before they leave family and friends for that troubled part of
the world, UM offered a small tribute to their courage — free
tickets to the Saturday, Nov. 13, home football game against Sacramento
State.
UM gave 150 tickets to members of 1-163rd Infantry Company C, which
started a deployment lasting at least 18 months in July. Since then
the soldiers have trained rigorously in the United States with no
leave time, but they have been allowed to return home to Montana for
a short visit in November before departing for the war zone.
“This is our small way of saying thanks for all the National
Guard does for this country,” UM Athletic Director Don Read
said.
Kelli Delano is president of Missoula’s National Guard Family
Readiness Group — an organization that supports soldier families,
friends and significant others. She contacted Grizzly Athletics about
the free tickets, and Read promptly asked for and received approval
from UM President George Dennison, whose office provided funding.
University employee Denise Nelson is vice president of the Family
Readiness Group, and her husband, Sgt. Morgan Nelson, is a UM forestry
undergraduate student.
“When they get over there, their down time will be minimal,”
said Nelson, program coordinator for UM’s Adams Center. “This
is a great way for the soldiers and their families to do something
fun before they leave.”
She said many National Guard families can’t afford Griz football
tickets right now.
“Many of these people have kids or babies on the way,”
Nelson said. “For some, this deployment cuts their income in
half. So this is a nice way for the University to say thank you.”
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