Vet goes from Iraq to cornerback
Toolbox
By PETE HARTT Staff Writer - Published: September 21, 2008
NORTHFIELD — As a first-year starter in the Norwich football defensive backfield, opposing teams likely look at Charles Stiles thinking they have an idea of what and who he is, and what they might do to stop him on the field.
They have no idea.
Whatever they might throw at him, Stiles has been in more dangerous situations than they can imagine.
At 25, Sgt. Stiles is a not only a football freshman, but a two-tour veteran of the war in Iraq, a Marine instructor at the nation's oldest military school and an architecture major. He's on his way to becoming a Marine corps officer and trying to make up for the speed he says he's lost since his freshman year of college and his last year of football in 2002.
"Starting out I was very nervous," Stiles said of his most recent football career. "I was a little slower; I may have lost a few steps. But I went out and did what they told me and tried to do the best I could."
Stiles is far from nervous during an interview in the Hall of Fame room at Norwich University. It's his birthday and he sits calmly in camouflage, talking about how he came from Middletown, Pa., to Northfield via Millersville State University; the Marine Corps; Paris Island, 29 Palms, Calif.; Okinawa, and Camp Fallujah in Iraq (twice).
"In Iraq my buddies and I used to joke about coming back and playing football," Stiles said. "When I knew I was coming to Norwich I thought I would give it a try, so I talked to my wife. She was very supportive."
Katie Stiles and her husband have been a couple since high school; they've been married for two years.
"I talked to him every day on the phone, so that wasn't too nerve wracking," Katie Stiles said of her husband's time in Iraq. "He would tell me when he was going to be out of touch for a few days. I tried not to worry because it was something I couldn't control.
"I was glad he wanted to get back into football, he loved it so much in high school."
Stiles enlisted in the Marine Corps after leaving Division II in Millersville. He left school, he says, because the family needed help financially and because he needed to gain maturity.
"I went through a period where I had a lot of growing up to do," he said. "I wanted to play football, but I felt the service was a more adult thing to do."
His wife concurs. "He's learned a lot of responsibility, he's really matured," she said. "You could tell, even on the phone, that he was learning so much. I always knew he could do great things."
It's difficult, however, to pull details from Charles Stiles about his combat service in Iraq.
"(My unit) did a number of things," he said. "It's hard to (talk about) what it was like, without experiencing it, it's hard to explain. You can't connect to it without going through it. We lost five during my first tour, and six during my second. One is too many."
After basic training at Paris Island and communications school in California, Stiles was posted to the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion in Okinawa. His unit was called up to Iraq four months later and posted to Camp Fallujah in September of 2005. He returned to Okinawa after his first tour, and then returned to Iraq in April of 2006.
"From the first time to the second, the biggest difference was how the Iraqi citizens felt about the United States," Stiles said. "The first time they had been living under so much oppression you would only see the man of the house out. By the second tour you would see families out together, and the country was being rebuilt."
Stiles re-enlisted after his first enlistment ran out and, having won the 3rd Division's Marine of the Year honor in 2006, had a chance to go to college.
"You apply to the program because you have to have a college degree to reach a certain rank," Stiles said. "(We chose) Norwich because I wanted a location without a lot of distractions. My wife and I wanted to own our own home. I liked the smallness of Norwich and the personal contact at the school."
With enrollment, a return to the gridiron became possible.
"He called us and his high school coach called us last fall," Norwich football coach Sean McIntyre said. "One of our assistants, Mark Murnyack, had recruited him in high school and we were very excited. When we met him, and saw him, we were even more excited."
Stiles commands attention even sitting loosely in a chair, and he has a palpable sense of calm that makes him a leader even as a first-year player.
"He's a special type of man," McIntyre said. "For example, when we go on the road we generally eat at buffets and the coaches go first, then the seniors and so on, with the freshman last. Even though he is technically a sophomore, he always goes through the line with the freshmen.
"Obviously, he's been at war, and third down and one-yard at the 40 is not as tough a situation as he has seen."
No one claims any similarity between the game of football and the life-or-death business of war. But, Stiles said, "In both cases you basically have brothers in arms. It's not the same, obviously, but the basic chemistry of men coming together, not knowing each other, and having to build trust to work toward a common goal is similar."
"It's more than a pastime because he loves it so much," Katie Stiles said. "It's a bonding experience; he's part of a brotherhood. He really wanted to jump at the chance, and it's nice that the younger players have taken him in so easily."
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