July 22, 2005

"An Army linebacker named Ben Kotwica sat at a table behind the press box at Veterans Stadium. Kotwica was a guy you instantly admired. Teammates, coaches, reporters gravitated toward him because Kotwica would lead you to greatness, then articulate his method in perfect tone and pitch. That's when he wasn't ripping the nose hairs out of players nervy enough to cross his path holding a football."

- Kevin Gleason, Middletown/Port Jervis, N.Y. Times-Herald Record

Ben Kotwica is accustomed to success, both on the football field and off. As a three-year letter winner and a senior team captain for the West Point varsity squad, he led the team to a record ten wins his senior season.

Eight years of service, including eight months in Bosnia and over a year in Operation Iraqi Freedom followed his gridiron success. But to understand him, look beyond the numbers and see who he is: a born winner who doesn't tolerate losing, between the lines or on the battlefield. After graduation, Kotwica became a graduate assistant football coach at the United States Military Academy Preparatory School. Flying Apache Attack Helicopters was on deck for the young officer; presenting him with some of the most perilous duty which America has been recently engaged. An assignment as battalion executive officer in Korea preceded his final military conquest as a company commander in Iraq.

"When I went to Iraq with the 1st Cavalry Division, the insurgency problem was minor," said Kotwica. "We thought it was going to be a peacekeeping and stability mission."

The peacekeeping mission, however, turned out to be anything but stable. One fateful spring day in April 2004, Kotwica lost two pilots when an Apache helicopter was shot down by a surface-to-air missile over Baghdad. "I don't think there's anything that out prioritizes losing men in combat. That is something that has an affect on me and my company," he said. "Anybody that has gone over there and says they aren't changed is not telling the truth."

It was a new war for Kotwica now. His job no longer was peacekeeping, but keeping his pilots alive. Convoys were now attacked and the sound of small arms fire filled the air.

"It's very complex over there because you fly down one area and you're greeted with flags and hand waves. Then you go down another and get small arms fire and rocket propelled grenades," Kotwica said. "The environment became very unforgiving."

As he and his Soldiers became indoctrinated to the horrors of war, Kotwica realized that commanding was nothing new to him. It was just a few short years ago that he was leading a similar unit into a different kind of battle.

As the inside linebacker for Army's football team during their success of the mid-90's, Kotwica was not accustomed to losing. The team had a composite record of 19 wins, 14 losses and one tie in his three years donning the Black and Gold. Army has yet to equal the number of wins enjoyed during Kotwica's tenure in the past eight seasons.

He was a captain on the 1996 squad that went 10-2 and won the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy, an honor awarded to each season's winner of the triangular series between Army, Navy, and Air Force. The ten wins are a single-season record, and the most in 114 years of West Point football. There were three games during that season that really tested the resolve of Kotwica and the rest of Army football team, but one jumps to the forefront.

"Beating the Air Force Academy in November of my senior year was one of the defining moments of that year and career," Kotwica said. "I will challenge anybody to match the intensity and electricity in the air that Saturday night at West Point."

The game was a 23-7 victory over the rival Falcons on national television. It set the stage for the most dramatic Army-Navy clash in the game's storied history. In their annual rivalry, West Point found themselves down 21-3 to the Midshipmen in the first half.

"There was never a sense that the game was slipping away," Kotwica said. "There was an eerie calm among our guys that day. I can honestly remember never thinking that we were in trouble. There was a confident mindset of the men in that game that needs to be matched in order to be successful again."

Army conquered Navy that rainy December day in Philadelphia 28-24, and in the process, completed the largest comeback in the game's 105-year history. Afterwards, Army was selected to play in the fourth postseason bowl game in the school's history, its first since 1988. Their opponent was the Auburn Tigers, an adversary that would prove too great for the Black Knights, who did not go down without putting up the fight of their lives. For his efforts in the game, Kotwica was selected as Army's Most Valuable Player. He and his teammates earned high praise that day from the Tigers.

"They are the military, and they never gave up,'' said Dameyune Craig, Auburn's quarterback that day. "You have to feel proud to have a group like this defending your country."

The ability to deal with stress, overcome challenges, pay attention to detail, work hard and use proper technique are very important whether the topic is football or combat, said Kotwica.

"Between the lines, football at this level is very competitive. I think that competitive nature ties into what you're doing on the battlefield. In combat, the difference isn't who scores more touchdowns, but instead who's going to get buried three feet below the ground."

Kotwica is beginning a new chapter in his life at USMAPS. Gone are the small arms skirmishes he encountered in the desert and the sunny football Saturdays at West Point. He's helping his "Army family" the best way he knows, returning to lead future Cadets on the gridiron. He knows all of his experiences have prepared him for this moment.

"As a leader, you take a bunch of individuals from all over the country like here at the Prep School and mold them into a team. We do the same thing in the Army," Kotwica said. "As a company commander, I led guys who were 40 years old and had multiple years of service as well as 20 year old kids out of high school."

Defeating Navy was, and still is a driving force of motivation for Kotwica. He is looking to bring that attitude with him as he evolves from player to coach.

"I don't know what it feels like to lose to Navy. I beat them four years in a row at West Point. I beat them my year as a Graduate Assistant at the Prep School. I can't fathom the thought of losing to them," he added. "There was a culture when I played - of knowing that losing to Navy was unacceptable."

The key to Kotwica's success is balance.

"Being an Army Football Player, an officer, and a contributor to society, I would love to think that being good at one has helped me be better at the other," Kotwica said.

"Being a good football player helped me to be a better officer. And I hope that being a good officer will help me be a better football coach. They're all related."

Ben Kotwica has led Soldiers in combat and athletes in competition. He now will lead the defense for the USMAPS football team. No matter what the results of the coming season, one thing is certain, a winning attitude is coming back home.