GEORGETOWN, Ky. -- There's something not quite right about Army Sgt. Michael Garvin looking over his shoulder at Chad Johnson and saying he's a hero.

Johnson is an extremely talented football player, and indeed a hero to many, including Garvin.

On Dec. 13, 2003, Garvin and his men were guarding a hole as fellow soldiers pulled Saddam Hussein out.

After his first tour in Iraq, Garvin went to Ft. Knox in Kentucky to help train soldiers to go to Iraq, and then last year he returned to Iraq, only to be sent back home because of the lingering effects of an explosion of an improvised explosive devise that whizzed past his head and blew up behind him, causing a slipped disc.

Next week Garvin is having surgery at Ft. Hood in Texas, and as soon as he can recover enough to carry his equipment, he's "headed back to my guys."

To Garvin, that’s not heroic.

"I raised my right hand," Garvin said. "So that's my job."

His job as a Calvary scout is heroic, whether he thinks so or not.

It's that selflessness and humility of one among the approximately two million active duty, military civilian personnel and reservists and National Guard members that makes it work.
But on Thursday, Garvin was recognized as a hero by his heroes -- the Cincinnati Bengals.

"Little kids call them heroes, too, and they are," Garvin said. "I'm not sure how much they understand how kids idolize them and even soldiers, too. When they come to Iraq, if that's their home team, they'll cut off an arm to get over there. They're heroes too, to us."

Garvin visited training camp at Georgetown College, met Marvin Lewis before practice and then after the two-hour workout, was introduced to the team by Lewis and led the team in breaking its post-practice huddle.

"It was great," Garvin said after ending the team's practice. "I didn't really have to say anything, because Coach Lewis said it all. I just broke the huddle with 'Cincy.'"

After that, several players and coaches came over to talk to Garvin and thank him for his service for the country.

With each one, Garvin dismissed it as doing his job.

And then he got to meet one of his heroes, quarterback Carson Palmer. But Palmer didn't just meet Michael Garvin, he also met Carson Garvin, Michael's 11-month old son, who was named after the Bengal quarterback.

Palmer talked to Michael and Carson, as well as the two other Garvin boys -- Gabriel, 9, and Michael, 6 -- and signed autographs.

Michael calls his oldest, Gabriel, "my own little ESPN."

Last football season, every Sunday night (Monday morning in Iraq) Gabriel would call his father and describe the Bengals game -- win or lose they’d talk about the game and Gabriel would give him all the details.

Sometimes, when Garvin was lucky, the Armed Forces Network would show a Bengals game and Michael would get to watch the game in the Bengals hat his wife sent him.

"I'd stay up and watch it, get up the next morning and go on a mission," Garvin said. "Win or lose, it's always worth it."

Away from home, away from regular life and away from the off-time that so many take for granted, sports are a way for those stationed abroad to connect to home.

The sight of Paul Brown Stadium reminded Garvin, a Glen Estes High School graduate, of his home in Cincinnati and his family.

Sports are so important to the men and women of the armed forces, Garvin said it's common for soldiers to get a day off on the day after the Super Bowl, because their commanders know how important it is for the soldiers to watch and enjoy that piece of home.

No matter how many miles separate Garvin and his sons, no matter how long it's been since he's seen them and no matter how many of their games or school players or whatever he's missed, there's always a common bond between father and sons in sports.

That started early for Michael Garvin, who was an Army brat as well. His father, Randy, spent 20 years in the Army, and their family was station in Germany twice, as well as posts across the United States. No matter where they were stationed, Randy Garvin's love of the Bengals and Reds was passed down to his son.

It's safe to say that fandom has been passed another generation, as three generation of Garvins watched Bengal practice from the sidelines and later got to meet several Bengal players.

"As far as my experiences in Iraq and the teamwork we have is the same thing they have to do on the field," Garvin said.

There is a difference, of course, there may be 340-pound defensive linemen, linebackers and Raider fans for players to navigate, that’s not the same as bullets, IEDs and grenades.

That's the world not many of us can imagine, but it's the world Garvin is hoping to return to soon. As he sees it, that’s what he was trained to do, and it's best for his men and his country if he's there to do that job right.

That’s why even the most famous of Bengals, Palmer, spoke the words that so many of his teammates gave to Garvin – "Thank you."



Garvin said the best way for you to help a soldier is to write a letter or send a package with 'hygiene stuff -- toothpaste, toothbrushes and deodorant' or powdered drinks such as sports drinks because the soldiers have plenty of bottled water, but sometimes 'it gets old.' Garvin, who has called in to 700 WLW from Iraq, has amassed supplies that have filled his garage, but has not been able to afford the postage to send it all. He said if you don't have a soldier you know to send letter or supplies to, contact your local recruiter's office and they can help you with an address to send to troops.

"A soldier that doesn't get mail doesn't perform as well as a soldier who has gotten mail," Garvin said. "It helps them out so much."