FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Steve Shutt, Ass't AD/Media Relations
Wake Forest University Athletic Media Relations
(336) 758-5640
Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Grobe to visit Iraq in support of troops

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Wake Forest head football coach Jim Grobe will be one of six NCAA Division I-A football coaches who will make a seven-day trip to visit troops stationed at U.S. military installations in Germany, Turkey, Iraq and Djbouti, Africa from May 27-June 4.

Grobe will be joined by Ohio State head coach Jim Tressell, Texas' Mack Brown, UCLA’s Rick Neuheisel, Houston Nutt of Ole Miss and Troy Calhoun of the Air Force Academy. In addition, former Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville will also make the trip.

The tour will launch from McConnell Air Force Base near Wichita, Kansas, the home of the 22nd Aerial Refueling Wing. The majority of the air transportation will be handled by a KC-135R, four-engine transcontinental aircraft.

The coaches will meet on May 27 at McConnell and depart on May 28 for Ramstein Air Base in Ramstein, Ger many. The coaches will visit with wounded troops at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany on May 29 before leaving for Incirlik Air Base in Turkey on May 30. The group will then depart from Turkey for several undisclosed military bases in Iraq. After a stop at a base in Djibouti, the group is expected to return stateside on June 4.

Troops can expect personal interaction with the coaches, as well as formal college football symposiums where troops have an open mic to ask questions of their favorite football heroes. Some locations will host flag football games, where military members will be led by the college coaches.

Former Wake Forest head basketball coach Skip Prosser participated in Operation Hardwood in 2007 as he led his team of troops to the tournament victory at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait.

During the trip, the coaches will log more than 25,000 air miles and visit with 15-20,000 U.S. troops.

The trip is being organized by Morale Entertainment, LLC in conjunction with Armed Forces Entertainment. Armed Forces Entertainment is the lead Department of Defense agency for providing entertainment to U.S. military personnel serving overseas, with priority given to those in contingency operations and at remote and isolated locations. The Department of the Air Force is the executive agent of Armed Forces Entertainment.