Army vs. Navy vs. COVID: With pandemic, an American tradition looks different this year

Robert J. Sander, Opinion contributor Published 7:00 a.m. ET Dec. 12, 2020

Having served both the Army and the Navy, I’m proud of my divided loyalties. But this year, the game reminds us our loyalties aren’t so divided.

The annual Army-Navy football game is here! Well… mostly.

Aside from the first four meetings from 1890-1893, the annual game has surprisingly not been played on a home field since the 1942 and 1943 games, when it was held in Annapolis and West Point, respectively.

I grew up in Philadelphia, where the teams faced off on locations like Veterans Stadium or Lincoln Financial Field more often than not (89 of the last 120 meetings were played in Philadelphia). During the years in which this rivalry was not held in Philadelphia, the game was usually played at other professional football stadiums in New Jersey and Baltimore.

Unsurprisingly, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed how the game will look this year. The game will played at West Point for the first time since that 1943 season, with only students and Department of Defense leadership in attendance. 

For me, I will see the game differently than in past years, too.

An Army bloodline

After completing law school in 1998, I began working as assistant district attorney in Maryland’s Montgomery County district attorney’s office. I had been thinking of doing something more for some time, and in early 2000, I joined the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps. In the more than two decades since I joined, I have deployed overseas to Africa and Europe, and I still look forward to my drill days when I get to wear the Army uniform.

But my DNA is not purely Army.

The Navy Midshipmen stand for the anthem before a game against the Army Black Knights at Lincoln Financial Field on Dec 14, 2019.

 (Photo: Bill Streicher, USA TODAY Sports)

My grandfather was a member of the German Navy in World War I. He was captured by the United States and became a prisoner of war. Several years later, he married my grandmother and became a United States citizen. He then enrolled in the U.S. Navy and eventually became a U.S. merchant mariner and master at arms during World War II to fight Nazism and fascism.

Four of his sons served in World War II, one of them being my father, who served as a Navy fireman on a submarine. In January, I was sworn in as the general counsel of the Department of the Navy. In that role, I serve as the department’s top lawyer and head of the Office of the General Counsel.

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Until this year, the U.S. Army was the only service branch with which I was affiliated, in both civilian and uniformed capacities. Before my current appointment, I was the principal deputy general counsel for the Department of the Army and was eventually asked to serve as the Army’s top lawyer.

While I was at the Army’s Office of the General Counsel, James McPherson was the Senate-confirmed general counsel of the Army. I enjoyed working for him, especially when it came time for the Army-Navy game, and even more so enjoyed becoming friends with him.

Robert J. Sander in Washington, D.C., in January 2020.

 (Photo: Monica King, U.S. Army Photo by Monica A. Kin)

McPherson retired in 2006 as the judge advocate general of the Navy, having attained the prestigious rank of rear admiral. During our time together in the Army’s OGC, I heard McPherson receive countless “GO ARMY, BEAT NAVY” cheers in the weeks and days leading up to the game. He was always very cordial about it, smiling and nodding. Even if he didn’t let it show, we all knew it irked him a little bit — or at least we thought it did.

But now that I’m in a similar position, serving the Navy while personally having an Army background, I am getting the facemask-muffled “GO NAVY, BEAT ARMY” cheers.

And it doesn’t bother me. Quite the opposite, it is something that I am very proud of.

Same team off the field

It’s a unique position to have had the opportunity to serve the Army and the Navy in leadership roles, so I get the sense of pride from both sides.

In this unusual year, the cheers are a wonderful reminder of our past and what we have to look forward to after this pandemic.

While this American tradition happens only once a year, it’s also a reminder of who is actually playing.

Navy Midshipmen look on as Army Cadets march onto the field before the Army Navy game at Lincoln Financial Field.

 (Photo: Bill Streicher, USA TODAY Sports)

Each one of these student athletes will hang up their football jersey to don a military uniform in the next few years, as they earn their commissions into their respective service. This is one of the few times where each and every athlete will have taken an oath to give their life on behalf of the nation.

Amidst the cheers and jeers, Army-Navy will look and feel different, at least to me, but one thing will remain the same — pride of service and pride of this great nation.

A different venue, no crowds, and a different perspective, but still the same teams with the same mission. 

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McPherson and I will jokingly trade “GO SERVICE, BEAT OTHER SERVICE” cheers, as we wear hats different from than those of our career military service.

But at the end of the day, we are all on the same team; taking the fight to our enemies: foreign or domestic; human or virus.

An annual game for bragging rights serves as a nationwide reminder to thank the student athletes for what they have signed up to do with their lives following college.

This year for me, it will be “Thank You, Army and Navy!”

To those students who will begin the military careers in a few months or years, to the retired Admiral McPherson, and all those who support what the services do on a daily basis, their service is recognized by this event.

Our sailors, Marines and soldiers fight day-in and day-out to keep the fight off our home field, and they are always the away team. They deploy away from their families and homes to take the fight to the enemy.

I couldn’t be more proud to have the opportunity to serve the Navy, regardless of my Army background.

So, thank you to all former, current, and future service members, regardless of your branch.

The Honorable Robert J. Sander is the general counsel of the Navy and currently serves as the Department of the Navy’s chief legal officer.

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