John Andrew Prime, jprime@gannett.com 9:18 p.m. CST December 12, 2014
U.S. Army Capt. Harrison Carmody in his AH-64 Apache helicopter.(Photo: Courtesy Harrison Carmody)
Story Highlights- A Shreveport-born Army helicopter pilot will have a place of honor at today's Army-Navy game.
- Harrison Carmody, 29, graduated from West Point in 2008.
- Now a captain, he's stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
- He deployed to Afghanistan in 2011-2012 and has flown almost 200 combat missions.
A local pilot and war veteran will have one of the best seats for Saturday's Army-Navy football game.
But it won't be in the stadium.
Instead, Army Capt. Harrison Carmody will look down at the decades-old interservice rivalry from the cockpit of an AH-64 Apache helicopter in an official game overflight that should be part of the local telecast on CBS stations at 2 p.m. today.
"It's a real honor to be able to do this," Carmody, 29, said in a call from Baltimore, Maryland, where the game, the 115th in a series of grudgematches since 1890, will be played. "Only a select few get the opportunity to be chosen by the commander. It was something I did not think I would be selected for. It was a great surprise."
He and three other Apache pilots left Fort Campbell, Kentucky, several days ago, but were held up in West Virginia by weather. Friday was rehearsal day.
"We're just going to do a tight, four-ship diamond formation within one rotor distance of each other," he said.
Carmody, in the Army seven years and single, joined for a number of reasons, patriotism among them of course.
"I just always wanted to do it," he said. "That, and I joined out a sense of service and adventure."
One of six children of Jacquie and Arthur Carmody III of Shreveport, he attended St. Joseph's Catholic School in Shreveport, then later went to the New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, N.M. Then he was appointed to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, from which he graduated in 2008.
"We are so proud of Harrison for his service to his country," Art Carmody says of his son, "After serving as an Apache pilot in Afghanistan, being selected to do the flyover at the Army-Navy game will be a special day for Harrison and his entire family."
Currently stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, the younger Carmody flies with Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment, 101st Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). In military speak, that's A/1-101 AVN REGT. He has served a tour in Afghanistan in 2011-2012 and has flown "probably close to 200 or so" combat missions.
All of that has led to an overflight at the game that closes out the college football regular season and sets the eyes of the nation on a lad from Northwest Louisiana.
"It's good that a Shreveport boy could make his way up north to Baltimore to enjoy a football game and some crab cakes," he said.
Watch
The Army-Navy game will close out the regular college football season with a game in Baltimore, Maryland, today at 2 p.m. It will be shown on CBS affiliates.
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