El Dorado native to serve as Soldier Mentor at 2015 U.S. Army All-American Bowl

• • By Billy Brown
    Posted Dec. 30, 2014 @ 3:18 pm
    
    

    For 14 years El Dorado native Staff Sergeant Justin P. Austin has been serving his country as a member of the U.S. Armed Forces. Saturday, Jan. 3, 2015 SSG Austin will be one of 24 soldiers representing the U.S. Army as a Soldier Mentor at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio.
    

    As a Soldier Mentor SSG Austin will help guide top high school football players and marching band members in five days of events capped off with the annual All-American East vs West matchup. SSG Austin was already a Soldier Mentor at last year's event, but the honor of being selected to help for a second year was not lost on him.
    

    "It's a real honor to represent the Army and be a positive example for student athletes and band members," he said. "For the Army to look at me as the type of person they want to represent them, obviously that's an honor."
    

    The All-American Bowl is a event where top high school football players and marching band members throughout the nation show off their talents
    

    Currently assigned to the Kansas City Recruiting Battalion, SSG Austin enlisted with the Army in September 2005 and in November was named 2014 U.S. Army Recruiter of the Year.
    

    SSG Austin has held several roles in that time earning multiple honors and awards with three tours of combat in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and one tour during Operation New Dawn.
    

    As a Soldier Mentor SSG Austin will have the ability to take what he has learned in his years as a soldier and apply them to young high schoolers as a positive role model.
    

    "He will have the opportunity to inspire these students with his Army story while demonstrating many of the same mental, emotional and physical strengths the students share with U.S. Army Soldiers," a U.S. Army press release said.
    

    SSG Austin said the different players all coming together as one is not all that different from what members of the Army experience.
    

    "Strangers meet up and become a team, the Army really isn't any different," SSG Austin said. "Everybody joins the Army from all different walks of life and they come together and become part of the ultimate team."
    

    And that instant camaraderie between so many different people, each with their own unique story, was his favorite part of being a Soldier Mentor last year.
    

    "They were strangers to each other," he said. "All these people meeting and working together as a team. I thought that was pretty cool how they got together pretty quick and started clicking as a team."
    

    SSG Austin said he was excited to be selected as a mentor for a second year. But in the end, he's there to support the athletes and band members while they prepare for what could be one of the biggest moments in their lives as they perform on televisions throughout nation that he has sworn to protect.

     http://www.butlercountytimesgazette.com/article/20141230/SPORTS/141239931/2000/NEWS