Longhorns salute the military

AUSTIN (KXAN) - On the heels of tragedy just an hour's drive from Austin, came a show of support on the 40 acres.

"All of our thoughts and prayers are with the families at Fort Hood," head coach Mack Brown said. "What an awful thing and for us to be able to celebrate all of our veterans on a wonderful day like today and have a beautiful day and so many of our military personnel at the game was really special to all of us."

Servicemen and women from all five branches of the military lined the Longhorns' sideline, and say the team's dedication was a welcome gesture.

"This school has always been supportive of military and we're just glad we can help out," said Texas graduate and Air Force Major Kyle Goldstein. "It's a tough week obviously with Fort Hood, but our prayers go out to those guys and this is just an awesome deal to be here."

The Tuesday before the game, Brown asked his players to dedicate their performance in the game to someone in the military. Sophomore running back Fozzy Whitaker dedicated his game to his older brother Curtis.

"He's 24 stationed in Tikrit, Iraq right now and he's actually on leave for 10 days," Whitaker said. "He was able to come to the Oklahoma State game and he was able to come to the game this week, and he has to fly out again tomorrow, so it was great to dedicate the game to my brother and for him to see me play a live game."

After the game, players thanked the troops.

"We just can't stress enough how much we appreciate what they do, and we feel like we get to do what we do because of what they do over there, so we're extremely thankful," senior wide receiver Jordan Shipley said.

Whitaker agreed.

"It's just heartwarming to give back to them-- you can't give back to them as much as they gave us-- and so it's good to see that we can do a little something in memory of them, just to make them feel better about their job and what they're doing for us," Whitaker said.

The team's fellow men in uniform returned the message. The Navy Supreme Allied Commander, Admiral James Starvidis, was an honorary captain.

"I think all of us in the armed forces think of Texas as the heart of patriotism in the United States of America," said Admiral Starvidis. "And it means the world to all of our men and women who are serving on the front lines of Afghanistan and Iraq and around the world. I just want to say thank you to this wonderful community and this football program."