The Navy Midshipmen have jumped out to a 9-2 record, good for third place in the American Conference, while the Army Black Knights are hovering above .500, with a record of 6-5.

Regardless, the winner takes home the Commander-in-Chief Trophy, an accomplishment either side would love to flaunt in spite of the other.

But for either team to win, they’ll have to lean on their strengths.

Here are the keys to the game that will provide a route to victory for the Midshipmen or Black Knights.

Offense

The Midshipmen’s rushing offense is impressive, ranking first in Football Bowl Subdivision college football with an average of 298.4 yards per game. Their passing, however, ranks 132nd, with the team only accruing an average of 136.4 yards per game.

Meanwhile, the Black Knights’ rushing attack isn’t too far off, ranking 5th in college football with an average of 256.9 yards per game. The team accounts for far less passing yards than the Midshipmen, however, only throwing for 78.3 yards per game on average.

Both teams have a record of possessing the ball for long periods of time.

The Black Knights rank No. 1 in time of possession in college football with an average of 35:16 per game, while the Midshipmen rank 17th with an average of 32:20 per game.

It’s likely that whoever dominates the time of possession will hold a distinctive advantage over the other.

Overall, the Midshipmen have a more experienced, balanced offense, with senior quarterback Blake Horvath — who led the Midshipmen to victory over the Black Knights last year in the Army-Navy game — leading the charge.

Horvath is the first quarterback in Midshipmen history to post back-to-back seasons with 1,000 yards passing and 1,000 yards rushing.

On the year, Horvath has rushed for 1,040 yards and 14 touchdowns, and passed for 1,390 yards with nine touchdowns and five interceptions.

Meanwhile, junior Army quarterback Cale Hellums — who only got the starting job in the sixth game of the season after Dewayne Coleman was sidelined with injuries — has impressed in his short time playing. At 5-foot-10 and 205 pounds, Hellums leads his team with 1,078 rushing yards and 15 rushing touchdowns. He has thrown for 504 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions.

Defense

Neither team has a particularly potent defense.

The Midshipmen’s overall defense ranks 92nd in college football — allowing an average of 398.7 yards per game — and 57th in rushing with an average of 143.2 yards per game.

Meanwhile, the Black Knights have a better overall defense, ranked 56th, but still give up an average of 357 yards per game. Their rushing defense ranks 63rd, allowing 147.1 yards per game.

An interesting wrinkle that will undoubtedly play out during the game — the Black Knights allow opponents to convert third downs 44.9% of the time, ranking 123rd in that category. That porous protection will have to contend with a Navy offense that converts 49.6 of their third downs, which ranks 12th in that category in college football.

What else to watch

Navy racks up a good amount of penalties, averaging 54.8 penalty yards per game, while Army is much more disciplined, netting only 24.1 penalty yards on average per game.

The Midshipmen’s star senior nose guard Landon Robinson, who was named the American Conference Defensive Player of the Year and a First-Team All-American by Sports Illustrated and USA Today, has had a monster campaign, totaling 54 tackles, 8.5 tackles for a loss, 6.5 sacks and seven hurries.

The Black Knights’ senior linebacker Andon Thomas is no slouch either, totaling 96 tackles this year.

Scoreboard

At the end of the day, all that matters for each team is notching more points than the other when the clock strikes triple zeros.

How the Black Knights or Midshipmen accomplish that feat is up to them, but it would appear that controlling the time of possession and running the ball as much as possible will net an advantage over the other.

The Army-Navy game kicks off Saturday, Dec. 13, at 3 p.m. EST at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland, and will be broadcast on CBS.

Amid this backdrop came the game of the century that, albeit briefly, delivered a respite from the far-flung battles across the globe and drew attention back to a good, old-fashioned American football rivalry.

“The Army-Navy game symbolized the continuation of peacetime rivalries in a time of national crisis,” author Randy Roberts wrote in “A Team for America: The Army-Navy Game That Rallied a Nation at War.”

“In a very real sense, it stood for exactly what Americans most desired, a return to the normality of American life.”

Yet the matchup almost didn’t happen. A little less than three years earlier, when the Japanese assault on Pearl Harbor plunged the U.S. into World War II, there were calls from politicians and those within the military for Americans to set aside peacetime frivolities, according to the Wall Street Journal.

“You can’t train a man to be a fighter by having him play football and baseball,” said Cmdr. James Joseph “Gene” Tunney, the Navy’s director of physical training and boxing’s former heavyweight champion. College football, he said, “has no place in war or preparing for war.”

Others disagreed.

“The British are going all out for sports as a morale builder, despite their proximity to the Luftwaffe and robot bombs,” Rep. Samuel A. Weiss, D-Penn, said in 1944. “Why, they have scheduled sixty-five sports events over there, thirteen of them major events expected to draw between 65,000 and 125,000 people. Our government realizes that if the British feel the need for public sports events so keenly, we certainly ought to do the same thing when we’re practically out of danger here.”

Cmdr. Thomas J. Hamilton, the head of the Navy’s Pre-flight and Physical Training program and a former head coach at Annapolis, felt similarly to Weiss, and, since he had the ear of much of the military brass, managed to shoehorn collegiate sports back on the menu.

The war itself had been a boon to both of the service academies’ football programs.

According to SB Nation, a dismal 1-7-1 record in 1940 prompted the United Press to describe the U.S. Military Academy Cadets as “a national calamity,” and military officials seriously considered mothballing the football team.

However, due to the war, the widespread influx of young men into the ranks of the U.S. military meant a swell of talent.

Further still, West Point, determined to snap its five-game losing streak against the U.S. Naval Academy Midshipmen, hired Earl “Red” Blaik in 1941, who was, according to SB Nation, “spartan and abstemious by nature.” His most profane epithet was a blistering “Geez, Katy.”

Yet his soft-spoken manner belied spectacular football acumen. His insistence on clean fundamentals and timing earned him the title of “that metronomic drill devil,” but his team was the better for it.

Interest in the game, originally set for Dec. 2, 1944, at the Naval Academy’s 12,000-seat stadium, swelled, with the rivalry matchup relocating to the 66,000-seat Municipal Stadium in Baltimore just a mere two weeks before kickoff. Tickets sales went toward war bonds and sold out in 24 hours, raising $58.6 million for the war.

One of the country’s preeminent sports writers at the time, Grantland Rice, wrote that it would be “one of the best and most important football games ever played.”

Army entered the contest with an undefeated 8-0 record, while Navy, coached by Cmdr. Oscar Hagberg, who had just returned from a Pacific submarine command, came in at 6-2.

Led by running backs Felix “Doc” Blanchard and Glen Davis — known as Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside, respectively — Army had decimated their opponents throughout the 1944 season, outscoring them 481-28. In fact, their last defeat had come in 1943 — at the hands of the Midshipmen.

Not to miss out on the spectacle was that of Army Chief of Staff Gen. George C. Marshall, Gen. Hap Arnold, commander of the Army Air Forces, and Adm. Ernest King, chief of naval operations.

And, while not televised — that would come the following year when Army was ranked No. 1 and Navy No. 2 — the eyes and ears of millions of Americans at home and abroad turned their attention from the battlefield to the gridiron.

“Win for all the soldiers scattered throughout the world,” came the pregame telegram from Army Gen. Robert Eichelberger, a former West Point superintendent stationed in the South Pacific.

Both teams entered the field that day in spectacular fashion, with the Navy contingent sailing across the Chesapeake Bay to arrive at the field, while the Army men were carried in on troopships escorted by Navy destroyers.

Winning the toss and electing to kick off, the Cadets struggled to get anything going offensively in the first quarter. So too did the Midshipmen. However, the defensive slog, noted New York Times sportswriter Allison Danzig, meted out “unusual ferocity of the give and take.”

By the end of the third quarter it was a mere 9-7 with Army in the lead after a safety. The game finally broke up in the fourth quarter with Army scoring two more touchdowns to win 23-7 against their archrival.

Despite throwing five interceptions and fumbling the ball three times, Army kept control, outgaining the Midshipmen 181-71 on the ground with Navy only completing 14 of 24 passes for 98 yards.

“It’s just about the best Army team that I have ever seen,” said Hagberg between bites of a post-game ham sandwich. “Our offense just couldn’t get going. They whipped us, and that’s just about all there is to it.”

“I think it was just a case of the No. 1 team in the country beating the No. 2 team in the country,” Blaik stoically stated in the aftermath.

Gen. Douglas MacArthur, supreme allied commander of the Southwest Pacific Area, was much less impassive in his praise, famously wiring Blaik: “The greatest of all Army teams. … We have stopped to war to celebrate your magnificent success.”

The Under Armour-made football jerseys and helmets include elements that honor the USS Chesapeake, USS Congress, USS Constellation, USS President, USS United States and USS Constitution, the only remaining frigate of them all and the world’s oldest commissioned warship still afloat.

The font for the jersey’s wordmark and numbers are inspired by the “Act to Provide Naval Armament” document that authorized the invention of the first fleet.

The Navy’s original frigates are also represented through six ropes woven into the sleeves and collars of the uniform, with 250 knots that embody the service’s anniversary.

The Under Armour logo on the uniform is also adorned with copper, a nod to the chemical element that was pivotal in the construction of the six frigates, which were draped in copper to protect the wooden hulls from marine damage.

The USS Constitution, which was undefeated in battle, utilized 12,000 feet of copper for its lower hull and thousands of copper nails to extend its life at sea.

The stone-colored pants of the this year’s uniform recall the uniform of sailors during the time of the original frigates and are emblazoned with six ropes for the six frigates and 126 knots for the 126th Army-Navy game.

The copper-colored helmet is intricately detailed with a sketch of the USS Constitution on one side and “USN” on the other side.

Splitting the helmet down the middle is a wooden plank displaying six ropes with 126 knots, again in commemoration of the 126th Army-Navy game.

A hype video that accompanied the uniform release page depicts the USS Constitution firing its cannons alongside the other five original frigates, with intermittent clips of a Navy Midshipmen football player donning the new uniform.

The Army-Navy game will be held Saturday, Dec. 13, at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland, and will be broadcast on CBS. Kickoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. EST.

In its 10th season collaborating with Nike, the Army football program alongside the U.S. Military Academy’s Department of History and War Studies have unveiled its latest specialty uniform, 1775, for the Army-Navy game.

The uniform, from helmet to cleats, features details reflecting the history and traditions that have been the hallmark of the service for 250 years.

To celebrate the Army’s birth, the service academy is traveling back to 1775 to honor the ordinary citizens who “rendered extraordinary sacrifices for the nation,” according to the West Point uniform website.

Marbled white uniforms with their numbers stitched in purple honor “those who served and never returned,” according to West Point Athletics, and serve as a “symbol of strength of American democracy.” The purple stitching represents both the Military Badge for Merit that was issued by George Washington during the American Revolution and present-day sacrifices of soldiers, Gold Star Families and Purple Heart veterans wounded in service.

Emblazoned on the front of the Nike-made jersey is the West Point seal surrounded by a chain, representing the 65-ton iron barrier that stretched across the Hudson River at West Point, securing the entire river valley for the patriots. The “Great Chain” was one of the most significant engineering feats of the American Revolution and was a lifeline to Washington’s nascent Continental Army.

“The river,” writes Hudson Valley Magazine, “separated the northeast from the rest of the country. If the British took control of the river, the head would be cut off from the body, and both sides knew what would follow.”

The easily identifiable typography on the uniforms mirrors the style of the U.S. Constitution, which the players, upon graduation and commissioning, will swear to uphold in a compact that has “guided our nation throughout its vaunted history,” writes the West Point website.

The helmet features 1775, the year the Army was founded, on the back alongside the Army Seal, which “serves as a constant reminder that this team’s players represent more than just the [U.S. Military] Academy when they step on the field,” according to the Army’s website.

Etched atop the helmet is the espontoon, a spear point symbolizing the Army’s role as the tip of the spear for the nation’s military might.

In 2024, the school chose to honor the 101st Airborne Division, highlighting the unit’s service during its role in the Battle of the Bulge and the Defense of Bastogne during World War II.

Units honored with past West Point football uniforms include:

• 2016: 82nd Airborne Division
• 2017: 10th Mountain Division
• 2018: 1st Infantry Division
• 2019: 1st Cavalry Division
• 2020: 25th Infantry Division
• 2021: U.S. Army Special Forces Command
• 2022: 1st Armored Division
• 2023: 3rd Infantry Division
• 2024: 101st Airborne Division

The Army-Navy game will be held Saturday, Dec. 13, at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland, and will be broadcast on CBS. Kickoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. EST.

Starting Jan. 2, interested racers may register their intent to participate in the new Armed Forces Series Challenge, an undertaking that involves completing five service-led races: the Coast Guard Marathon, the Air Force Marathon, the Army Ten-Miler, the Marine Corps Marathon and the Space Force T-Minus 10-Miler.

After completing their final race, participants are awarded a special Armed Forces Series Challenge medal.

The races, which are open to the public and held annually between April and December, can be completed across multiple years, giving marathoners an extended window to achieve the feat.

However, only those races starting in 2024 count toward the series, Jill Huffman, the Air Force Marathon interim-race director, confirmed to Military Times. That means those who previously competed in the various runs need to re-lace their shoes to cross the finish line.

“It is a clean slate,” she said, adding that while virtual options had been created during the COVID-19 pandemic, for this challenge the runs must be completed in person.

In addition to registering for the challenge, runners must still sign up for each event separately. Although the dates are subject to change, the upcoming races for 2024 are slated as follows:

• The Coast Guard Marathon — Sunday, April 7.
• The Air Force Marathon — Saturday, Sept. 21.
• The Army Ten-Miler — Sunday, Oct. 13.
• The Marine Corps Marathon — Sunday, Oct. 27.
• The Space Force T-Minus 10-Miler — Saturday, Dec. 14.

“Each branch of the armed forces has a unique character and distinguished tradition that is exemplified by their corresponding service-level running events,” Alex Hetherington, the Marine Corps Marathon director, said in a statement. “This is your opportunity to run with purpose, finish with pride and earn the distinction of receiving the Armed Forces Series Challenge medal.”

Military Times sat down with two standout players, one each from the U.S. Naval Academy and U.S. Military Academy at West Point, ahead of the 124th meeting of the two teams for a few questions.

Keenan Reynolds was in the class of 2016 and played quarterback during his four years on the Navy team. Reynolds racked up an NCAA Division I record 88 career touchdowns and set an FBS record 4,559 rushing yards at quarterback. Reynolds played professional football after being drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in 2016. He continues to serve as a Navy Reserve lieutenant.

Alex Moore, West Point class of 2003, played on the offensive line all four years as a cadet and served as co-captain of the team during his senior year. Moore branched armor after graduation and deployed to Iraq in 2004 and again from 2007-08. Moore, now a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve continues to serve, now as a brigade executive officer under Army Material Command.

Both Reynolds and Moore work at Palantir Technologies, a software company that specializes in big data analytics and currently runs multiple cyber and artificial intelligence-related contracts for the Army.

*Editor’s Note: The below Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: What’s your earliest memory of the Army-Navy game?

Reynolds: I remember the Army-Navy game it was like 2006. The first time I watched one was my senior year in high school, 2011. I hadn’t gone on any of my visits. But at that point, Navy offered me, I thought I’d be a fool not to go. It was on CBS at a Longhorn Steakhouse. I was a little late to the game, but I immediately picked up this is such a unique atmosphere and if I can be a part of it, I should be a part of it for sure.

Moore: I remember being seven, eight or nine and not really knowing the game. My uncle was in the Army, retired colonel Special Forces. My grandfather, his stepdad, was in the Navy in World War II. Whenever one team would score, they’d call the other one and hang up right away. A little rivalry and neither of them went to the academies. First real memory I have is watching it in 1995, watching them go back and forth on that one and the Corps of Cadets.

I was looking at all three of the academies, had offers from Air Force and Army but the military liaison at Navy said, maybe you’re not a Division I football player. That was it for Navy. It came down to do I want to fly or be on the ground with troops? And I wanted to be on the ground infantry or armor.

Q: What’s your favorite memory of the game?

Reynolds: Obviously winning, beating Army all four years was amazing, hard to pick one. One thing that’s sticking out to me right now is as a plebe rolling up to the stadium you get there a few hours early and typically the stadium is completely empty you have people in the parking lot maybe tailgating. I can never forget rolling up to the Lincoln Financial Stadium and seeing the stadium 60-70% full and I was confused, I was like wait why are the gates opened that early wondering why are there so many people in the stands? If they were there, they wanted to see the march on. How important this game was really hit me. It’s obviously important as soon as you step on campus, it’s Beat Army! But until you get to game week, get to practice and pull up to the game on Saturday, there’s nothing like it. It’s forever ingrained in my memory the exact view. I’ll never forget seeing the stadium how it was and realizing how important this game was to a whole lot of people all over the world who were watching. That’s a sense of pride you can’t shake off and it’s just an incredible experience to be a part of.

Moore: It had to be 2001 after 9/11, we beat Navy that year and it was my first year starting. The one memory that stands out from that is I actually broke my collar bone in that game as well. I didn’t realize it, I thought it was just a stinger. But I finally had done enough to fake the docs out to go back into the game and once they cleared me, I remember running on, but I knocked over a 3-star general that was on the sidelines. I probably yelled back ‘sorry’ or didn’t say anything. But thinking back on that anywhere else and I’d probably been chewed out, kicked out, probably be in jail or something.

Q: Navy joined the American Athletic Conference in 2015, Army will join next year after having been independent for many years. What does being in the same conference mean for the teams and this rivalry?

Moore: Seeing the changing landscape of college football, I think it was a necessary move they had to make. They have some great leadership at the Academy with Mike Buddie and Coach (Jeff) Monken and Mike Buddie. I know they didn’t take that decision lightly. Ultimately on that one, they made the right decision. For the significance of Army-Navy, I don’t think it’s going to diminish one bit. You still have the pomp and pageantry of this game. And if they both have the chance to play in that championship and play again, that’s success for both programs right there. We may be a couple years away from that, but that would be something great, two Army-Navy games back to back, a lot of fun, a lot of bragging rights and a lot of hard hitting.

Reynolds: It’s definitely been a really great opportunity. We’ve competed in that conference, we’ve had our up years and down years, we played in the conference championship game in our second year. It helps with recruiting; you’re playing very high profile teams. You’re on national TV. The chance to play Army-Navy twice? That would be the most incredible two weeks of college football ever. That would be unprecedented. As you move into this 12-team college football championship AAC is right in the thick of things, have a good year, win a conference championship and who knows? You could have an Army or a Navy competing again for a national championship. That’s again a totally unprecedented type of situation that you haven’t seen since the 50s or the 60s. I think it just opens doors and opportunities for both teams.

Q: After many years of debate, NCAA athletes can now profit from Name, Image and Likeness rights. The Army and Marine Corps have recently sponsored some NCAA athletes to promote the services. But academy students are considered government employees and not allowed to do this. Thoughts?

Reynolds: I think if you asked 100 people you might get a 50/50 mix. Being part of the Army or Navy at the academies you’re an active duty servicemember and you fall under those same rules. When you go to a place like Army or Navy, you’re accepting the fact that won’t come. And you’re okay with that. You make that decision, you’re okay with accepting what comes with it. That’s the way it was when we were playing, you got the same check as a cadet or a Midshipman. I think that’s okay. I think that’s how it should be.

Moore: Every player knows what they’re signing up for when they come there. Even though there is a controversy around that everybody at the academies, no one person is better than another person, you’re all part of a brotherhood or a sisterhood going there. What one gets, all gets, you get the same paycheck, same food, same living conditions. That’s a good way to be because it sets you up well for service after you graduate.

BOSTON — Rob Gronkowski, the former NFL Patriots tight end and Super Bowl champion, returned to his roots in New England to partner with organizations donating new vehicles to military families in need.

The football legend helped gift the cars Friday to an Army and Navy family outside Faneuil Hall Marketplace ahead of the 124th Army-Navy game, which is set to be played Saturday at the Pats’ stadium outside of Boston in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

“Thank you guys for everything you have done for our country,” Gronk, the four-time Super Bowl winner who played for both the Patriots and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, said to the current and former troops taking home the vehicles.

The pair of military families received the cars through a Recycled Rides program by the United Services Automobile Association, in partnership with the National Auto Body Council and other nonprofits, to showcase ongoing support for veterans and service members amid a weekend of football fanfare.

While a crowd quickly circled around Gronkowski, one of the true stars of the event, Army veteran Sgt. Robert A. Trevino, 30, watched from his wheelchair as the sheet covering his new vehicle was removed to reveal the truck underneath.

The Trevino family received a black 2022 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck.

Trevino served in the Army from 2014 to 2018, including with the 9th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Cavazos, Texas, and deployed in 2015 to South Korea as a wheeled vehicle mechanic.

“I’m very ecstatic, I can’t believe it’s real,” said Trevino, who lives with his wife in San Antonio, Texas, but has experienced transportation difficulties. “It will definitely help my wife and our future family go ahead and exercise regular things that regular families are able to do.”

A non-combat related car accident caused Trevino to become paralyzed, but accommodations in the vehicle will allow the former soldier himself to still operate it, including a driver’s spot that maneuvers so the seat can turn and lower to a level for the former soldier to more easily enter and exit.

Kyle Kohlgraf, 30, a 2nd class petty officer from Colorado Springs, Colorado, enlisted in the Navy in 2019. He currently works as an information systems technician aboard the Los Angeles-class submarine the USS Hartford, but he and his family have also faced transportation challenges.

The Kohlgraf family received a red 2019 Chevrolet Blazer sport utility vehicle.

“I’m extremely thankful and humbled,” he said. “This is a real blessing to have something that’s more reliable and going to last for the foreseeable future.”

Wayne Peacock, the president and chief executive officer of USAA, said at the event that the program has been in the works since 2019. He added that it’s a phenomenal opportunity to share a gift with two very deserving military families with tremendous and compelling stories.

They run the gamut from boring “Go Army, Beat Navy” clips to incredibly elaborate works of cinema. In fact, last year, an Army video recreated the infamous door scene from “Titanic,” but instead of Rose letting Jack slip into the deep blue abyss, it was the Army that let the Navy drown.

Here’s a roundup of some of this year’s spirit videos.

1. Bringing in the cavalry

2. The fat chance

3. The throwback

4. Flipping channels

5. The history lesson

6. The rhyming game

7. The goat is dead

For the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the unveiling is a chance to highlight the Army’s history and connect the service with its veterans and current soldiers.

Army Times talked with the leader of the team at the West Point history department who spearheads selecting which unit the school will honor, teaming with the athletic department and Nike, which creates the uniforms.

Lt. Col. John Zdeb first enlisted in the Army in 1997 from his hometown of Schaumburg, Illinois but within a few years decided to go the officer route. That led to his acceptance at West Point, where he graduated in the Class of 2004.

The armor officer served tours in Iraq, Afghanistan, eastern Europe and Kuwait. He got to return to his alma mater as a teacher in 2013 before heading back out to big Army.

Zdeb came back to West Point to teach military history in 2020 and quickly volunteered to help with the history department’s uniform team.

“It’s so humbling to be honest,” he said. “There’s certain things you get to do in life, things you never expected to have input and be involved with.”

The lieutenant colonel said there’s much more to selecting the uniform and various features than people might think. It’s actually a two-year process from inception to unveiling.

Though don’t expect any sneak peeks at next year’s uniform in this article, participants are sworn to secrecy and must sign a non-disclosure agreement to work on the team.

“There’s so much anticipation,” he said. “Knowing the reveal is coming, anticipating how it’s going to be received. It took on added importance for me this year, being a division I served with.”

Units honored with past Army uniforms:

• 2016: 82nd Airborne Division
• 2017: 10th Mountain Division
• 2018: 1st Infantry Division
• 2019: 1st Cavalry Division
• 2020: 25th Infantry Division
• 2021: U.S. Army Special Forces Command
• 2022: 1st Armored Division
• 2023: 3rd Infantry Division

Source: U.S. Military Academy at West Point

The four-officer team, which Zdeb currently leads, looks at past uniform selections and seeks out units in the Army, usually divisions that have a significant story to tell. This year’s uniform honors the 3rd Infantry Division, one of multiple units that Zdeb served with during his career.

The 3rd ID has a storied history. Activated in 1917 for service in World War I, the unit earned its nickname, “Rock of the Marne” after its performance in the Aisne-Marne Offensive, protecting Paris by stationing itself on the banks of the Marne River.

One of its battalions rushed to the riverbanks as French troops retreated and held off the advance of the German attack. Though surrounded during a subsequent battle, 3rd ID took the bulk of what would prove to be the final German offensive of the war.

The division continued showing its mettle in World War II, being among the first U.S. units to see ground operations in Europe. Honors continued to pile up as the division saw distinguished service in the Korean War and Vietnam War.

Elements of that history are sprinkled through this year’s uniform, “Rock of the Marne” adorns the back of the players’ helmets, the division’s bulldog mascot “Rocky” perches on the side of the dome. Stenciled numbers are reminiscent of common vehicle stenciling on Army equipment.

But the desert-tan color is a nod to more recent service, the division’s “Thunder Run” during the 2003 invasion that kicked off the Iraq War. The run struck deep into enemy territory and put soldiers into Baghdad far sooner than the enemy anticipated, helping bring invasion operations to a quick close.

Zdeb and his team of two majors and a captain got a brief respite to enjoy the uniform unveiling, which happened just prior to the Thanksgiving holiday at an academy formation.

They also compile historical information for West Point and Army websites related to the uniform and occasionally the experts are invited on camera to explain the significance of various uniform aspects.

Soon after last year’s game, the team was drumming up the next unit to honor in 2024 and present for approval to the academy’s athletic department this past spring. Once that unit and recommended elements are approved, Zdeb and his team switched back to concluding final items on this year’s uniform.

After this year’s game concludes they’ll be rolling along to submit a candidate for 2025 as Nike designers finalize the 2024 uniform. It’s an ever-rotating cycle, he said.

He had a family legacy of service in the Marine Corps, including an uncle and a cousin who were killed in action. He had grown up seeing the iconic images of the wars in the Middle East, with Marines bearing rifles, doing tough work.

But for the former U.S. Naval Academy football team offensive guard, there also was the yearning for a challenge. The sense that he could use his experience in a combative sport for a greater purpose.

“The Marine Corps brand is not welcoming, which is perhaps the most charming thing about it,” said West, who is currently stationed at Marine Barracks Washington. “They’re not interested in you. It’s, ‘Can you keep up?’”

Each year, a strikingly large portion of the Naval Academy’s football team decides to answer that question and pursue the Marine officer route.

Since 2014, 46% of the players have become Marines, according to academy spokesman Scott Strasemeier. That’s compared to only 25% to 30% of Naval Academy midshipmen overall.

In November, 10 out of the 25 football players in the Class of 2024 received Marine Corps assignments, according to Strasemeier.

West, a 2017 Naval Academy graduate, said the football players, himself included, tend to be drawn to the higher physical and other standards of the Marine Corps, though he noted has great respect for the Navy and the people who join the service.

Football’s high-contact nature has something in common with the Marine ethos, West said — in particular the infantry, where several of his teammates ended up.

“I don’t want to compare football to real-life combat operations, but if you’re a football player who’s trained to think that way and use your skills in that way, it turns out a lot of the Marine Corps’ mission is hands-on, imposing your will on someone directly,” West said.

The message then-Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo had for his players also aligned with Marine Corps culture, according to West: Be disciplined, be detail-oriented, and find a way to win.

In West’s view, the team’s legacy of Marine Corps service is another reason many of the players are inspired to trade in their cleats for eagle, globe and anchor pins.

There was 1st Lt. Ronald Winchester, who was killed in Iraq in September 2004. There was 2nd Lt. J.P. Blecksmith, killed in Iraq in November 2004.

There was Brian Stann, who earned the Silver Star Medal for the valor he showed as a second lieutenant in Iraq in May 2005.

There was retired Capt. Bryce McDonald, who returned to the team as a coach after surviving an improvised explosive device flipping his Humvee in Iraq in 2006, as the Los Angeles Times reported.

Four of the team’s current staff members are Naval Academy grads who became Marines, according to Strasemeier.

The large number of future Marines on the team is sometimes obvious at a glance, West said.

On Nov. 19, 2016, days before the football team played East Carolina University, the academy’s seniors received their service assignments. That meant West and other soon-to-be Marines had to get their heads shaved, as a traditional rite of passage.

When the dress-uniform-clad midshipmen arrived in North Carolina, half of them were sporting freshly razor-shorn heads.

The intimidation factor was high, West recalled.

“The ECU fans were amused to see midshipmen players arriving in uniform but became a little bit unsettled at the sight of the Marine selects with bald heads offloading the buses,” West said.

The Midshipmen beat East Carolina that day, 66–31.