Redskins coach truly understands battle

After practice on Military Appreciation Day at Washington Redskins training camp, the special teams coordinator made a beeline to the people in uniform near the special VIP tent. Ben Kotwica used to be one of them. He was a helicopter pilot who flew more than 1,000 combat missions during the Iraq War. NFL players love to speak of “battle” and “war” on the playing field; Kotwica knows the real thing. “I think the parallels that get drawn sometimes between war and football get a little bit exacerbated,” he said. That’s not to say he hasn’t drawn from his military experiences, or used the occasional military term, during his rise in the NFL coaching ranks. After his service – which also included stints in Bosnia-Herzegovina and South Korea – he worked his way up to special teams coordinator with the New York Jets and this year joined the Redskins. – Associated Press