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From left to right, 1st Sgt. Brandon Perry, 37; Sgt. Kali Tackitt, 23; and Spc. Natalie Smith, 24, watch the Packers and the Steelers go at it in Super Bowl XLV at icy Forward Operating Base Sharana in Paktika province in eastern Afghanistan.

From left to right, 1st Sgt. Brandon Perry, 37; Sgt. Kali Tackitt, 23; and Spc. Natalie Smith, 24, watch the Packers and the Steelers go at it in Super Bowl XLV at icy Forward Operating Base Sharana in Paktika province in eastern Afghanistan. (James Foley/Stars and Stripes)

From left to right, 1st Sgt. Brandon Perry, 37; Sgt. Kali Tackitt, 23; and Spc. Natalie Smith, 24, watch the Packers and the Steelers go at it in Super Bowl XLV at icy Forward Operating Base Sharana in Paktika province in eastern Afghanistan.

From left to right, 1st Sgt. Brandon Perry, 37; Sgt. Kali Tackitt, 23; and Spc. Natalie Smith, 24, watch the Packers and the Steelers go at it in Super Bowl XLV at icy Forward Operating Base Sharana in Paktika province in eastern Afghanistan. (James Foley/Stars and Stripes)

From left to right, 1st Sgt. Brandon Perry, 37; Sgt. Kali Tackitt, 23; and Spc. Natalie Smith, 24, watch the Packers and the Steelers go at it in Super Bowl XLV at icy Forward Operating Base Sharana in Paktika province in eastern Afghanistan.

From left to right, 1st Sgt. Brandon Perry, 37; Sgt. Kali Tackitt, 23; and Spc. Natalie Smith, 24, watch the Packers and the Steelers go at it in Super Bowl XLV at icy Forward Operating Base Sharana in Paktika province in eastern Afghanistan. (James Foley/Stars and Stripes)

FORWARD OPERATING BASE Sharana, Afghanistan — While Lambeau Field-like conditions swirled outside, soldiers of 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne hunkered down in their all-weather tents to watch the Green Bay Packers go ahead on the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first half of Super Bowl XLV.

The snow blew in squalls all night, the first major storm of the “Currahees” deployment to Paktika Province in restive eastern Afghanistan, and soldiers woke up early. some believing the game started at 3:30 a.m., others at 4:30 a.m.

“I just showed up,” said Maj. Gary Pina, 37, of Lawton, Okla., arriving just before halftime to a darkened conference room at 4th BCT headquarters where a large screen TV blared American Forces Network commercials between plays.

Pina, said he’s been a Steelers fan since watching the Coke commercial with Mean Joe Greene when his father was stationed in Germany.

“I was 5 or 6 years old, and I fell in love with them,” Pina said.

But it was all Green Bay in the first half. And many true “Cheeseheads” soaked it up in traditional Packer Gear incongruous with their Army-issue cots and combat gear.

“I started getting psyched up in November,” said 1st Sgt. Brandon J. Perry, 37, from Merrill, Wisc., with Bravo Company of 4th Brigade Special Troops Battalion. He sported an actual cheese head, ordered special for the Super Bowl, as well as Green Bay pajamas and slippers while pacing excitedly inside his company’s tent.

“We brought the TV and arranged it to watch in the comfort of our Green Bay gear,” Perry said. “My wife sent the PJs special for the occasion. She bought both my boys jerseys for the game, so they should be geared up.”

Maj. Jeff Ignatowski, 34 of Franklin, Wisc., of the Brigade S-4, or logistics cell, said they organized an early breakfast for troops to watch the Super Bowl.

“It’s a pleasant surprise to see the picture is this good, considering the wind and snow,” Ignatowski said, although the satellite did go out for a few minutes to groans during the first half.

Pina, one of the few Steelers fans in sight, said he’s watched three Super Bowls while deployed, but this is the first where troops on the smaller outposts also got to watch it.

“The Brigade colonel (Col. Sean M. Jenkins) made a big push during Thanksgiving to get AFN out to the smaller [Combat outposts] to watch, [starting with] Thanksgiving Day football. I’ve never seen that, to push that hard to get them Internet and AFN,” Pina said. “In OIF 1 we didn’t get that. It’s a small sign that he cares about their morale.”

Sitting next to Perry, Headquarters Company’s Sgt. Kali Tackitt, 23, of Auburn, Calif., wore a new Packers jersey and even sported Packers crocs. Tackitt said being a Packer’s fan runs in the family.

“When my uncle was 9 years old he wrote Bart Starr a letter ,and he wrote him back, it’s been in the family ever since. I’ve watched every Packers game they’ve shown on AFN here. I stay up, but just for the Packers.”

It was worth it. The Packers won their fourth Super Bowl, beating the Steelers 31-25.

foleyj@estripes.osd.mil

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