Flag Gift From 1 Group Of Patriots To Another

Soldiers of Bravo Company, 1st Squadron, 33rd Cavalry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) from Fort Campbell, Ky., stand in front of an American flag sent to a member of the unit …Spc. Matthew Brustien …from the New England Patriots. The team signed the national banner, and the unit’s soldiers will be signing an American flag to send to the team.

Sierra Vista Herald
PATROL BASE CORREGIDOR, Iraq — OK, Spc. Matthew Brustien admits he is a New York Giants fan.
But it was the New England Patriots who sent the 26-year-old soldier an American flag signed by the team members.
On Wednesday, fellow soldiers of Bravo Company, 1st Squadron, 33rd Cavalry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) posed for a photo with the signed flag.
Brustien said he is going to have the troop sign an American flag to send to the Patriots, along with a serious and funny photo from the recent photo taking, along with pictures of the entire troop in Kuwait and his platoon, the 2nd.
Brustien’s connection to the Patriots came through his father’s friendship with Tom Brady, with whom he played golf.
The Great Neck, N.Y., resident said most of his family work on Wall Street and were at their jobs when the terrorist attacks hit New York on Sept. 11, 2001.
The three-year Army veteran is reluctant to talk about that day, except to say no one in his family was hurt, although “a few friends were killed.”
His interest in football and the Army began when his grandfather took him to games at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
He has been taking some ribbing from many of the unit’s soldiers, most of whom at Indianapolis Colts fans, Brustien said.
After the photo session, during which the soldiers wore unit shirts, shorts and shower slippers, the signed flag was removed. “I’m going to fold it up and send it home,” Brustien said.
As for the Patriots, the soldier said he is not going to say much as he doesn’t want to jinx the team’s perfect record this season — the Patriots clinched a perfect 16-0 regular season and head to the playoffs in two weeks.