05:42 Tue 11-10-09 | by Andy Kent
With no disrespect meant to those on the Miami Dolphins' offensive line, running back Ricky Williams let it be known that he would be honored to run behind any of the 20 military veterans of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan who joined him for a very special lunch this afternoon at Duffy's in Plantation.
Williams hosted his first Luncheon for Wounded Warriors Project Miami and sat attentively at the long tables set up inside the restaurant's Sports Theater as these heroic members of all four branches of the armed forces described what it was like to be in those war-torn countries. Williams was joined by fellow running backs Ronnie Brown and Kory Sheets as well as some Miami Dolphins cheerleaders for what seemed like a simple gesture but left an indelible impression on Williams.
"You see the strength of the human spirit and you see that these men and women can go through these experiences and still come back and retain any insanity," said Williams, who also handed out 20 All Community Team tickets to Sunday's game with Tampa Bay at Land Shark Stadium and will provide hot dog, popcorn and soda vouchers for the veterans. "It's amazing. We consider what we do to be hard on the football field but what they do puts our hard work to shame."
The Dolphins partnered with the Wounded Warrior Project of Miami and coordinated the event with Lieutenant Ben Baar, who heads the project and helped nominate those veterans to attend the luncheon and meet Williams, Brown and Sheets. All of the veterans in attendance are from South Florida, with some from Plantation and Sunrise and others from Miami.
Among those at the table nearest to Williams was Steve Lora, who served four years with the U.S. Army Reserves as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom back in 2003 during the initial invasion. Lora received the Purple Heart, given to a service member who has been wounded in combat and he shared some of the details of what life was like in a combat zone, as did the others. They described how hot it was during the day in the desert while wearing over 100 pounds of gear and how it felt to hear gunshots and explosions constantly. Some of what kept Lora and the others going while on deployment was the ability to follow the Dolphins and root for them on Sundays, so that is what made today special for them.
"It's great and I never imagined myself meeting Ricky Williams, let alone eating lunch with him," Lora said. "I think it's great for the Dolphins organization and Ricky Williams that they took time out of their busy schedule to say thanks to veterans. To see Ricky Williams on a personal basis, sitting down and eating lunch with him, it really does mean a lot. You can see that he's very sincere, he's very appreciative and he means what he says, and for a lot of us, and I'm only going to speak for myself, I really saw that it really came from the bottom of his heart."
Williams stood up before the end of the luncheon to thank the veterans as a group and told them he felt that they have been underappreciated and their stories truly touched him. He pointed to his heart as he spoke and told them how important it was for him to recognize their sacrifices in the interests of his freedom and all of those who live in the United States.
Alain Cisneros also is an Army veteran and served in Iraq for 18 months of his four-and-a-half-year tour as an infantryman and was extremely touched by the gesture put forth by Williams and the Dolphins. He sat right next to Williams during the lunch and along with the other veterans got a kick out of the facial reactions of Brown and Sheets when he was describing some of the meals they had to eat while overseas. But more importantly, he just felt honored to be appreciated.
"This is awesome," Cisneros said. "I know we're fighting for a cause for everyone here, but to know that they are willing to take care of us when we get back home makes us feel a lot better. It makes us feel good and it makes us feel appreciated because we sacrifice a lot over there; family, friends. I lost a couple of my boys over there in Iraq and to come back home and feel appreciated and see these people show their support is a major thing for us. With Ricky, you can tell that he's very concerned about the way we get treated when we come back and this shows a lot."
Brown was very excited about coming to the luncheon and meeting the veterans and in his mind he was more excited to hear their stories than they were to meet him. Compared to what he does as a football player, Brown was awed by some of the conditions the veterans faced in combat and had a new appreciation for what they did.
"We were asking them about their training and the stuff they do and obviously we run short distances while they run miles and miles," Brown said. "They've got all this gear on with boots, so you've got a tremendous amount of respect for those guys and what they do and how we just play a sport and they're actually putting their lives on the line for their families and for people they don't even know for us to be able to live freely."
