Fogt Returns Home

Fogt returns home after one-year deployment
(USBSF Press Release)

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (August 2, 2011)–Neighborhood kids ran through sprinklers on a hot July 4 afternoon, expending nervous energy in anticipation of that evening’s fireworks display. The sidewalk was a traffic jam of kids racing on bikes with red, white and blue streamers fluttering from the handlebars.  The scene unfolded like a movie from a car window as soldier-athlete Chris Fogt returned home to Alpine, Utah after a one-year deployment in Iraq. 

“There were kids everywhere playing in the street and running around at almost every house we passed on the way home,” Fogt said.  “It was such a stark contrast to what I saw over the last year in Iraq, where violence and fear reign. You never see kids outside because families are too afraid in Iraq.  Coming home and seeing what freedom represents by seeing so many people outside smiling and living really makes me proud to be wearing my uniform.”

Fogt enjoyed a fireworks show that evening with his family and celebrated the freedom he’d been fighting for just hours after stepping off the plane from Iraq.  A few loud bangs startled Fogt, but he was able to look around and realize he was safe at home on U.S. soil.

“It was so crowded and I’m trained to look around and imagine where I would enter if I was a suicide bomber,” Fogt said.  “I have such a great support system with my family and friends, so they were able to ease my nerves and I was able to really enjoy being home on the 4th of July to share the freedom and happiness that our American flag represents.”

Fogt gained media attention while wearing the U.S. flag as a member of the 2010 Olympic bobsled team, but it’s the flag he wore on his Army uniform over the last year that makes him a hero. 

While Fogt didn’t grow up wanting to be a bobsled athlete, he’s always dreamed of being a soldier.  He joined the Reserve Officer Training Corps while attending Utah Valley University in 2005 and was commissioned into the Army as a 2LT in the Military Intelligence branch in 2008.

“Maybe I watched too much GI Joe or something, but I’ve talked about joining the Army since I was eight,” Fogt said.  “Instead of waiting to be drafted, my dad joined the military during Vietnam War and has been in the reserves since.  I’ve always looked up to him and known I’d be a soldier someday.”

Fogt was recruited into bobsled as a track athlete in college and never thought he would be able to compete in a sport he was growing to love while serving in the Army after graduation.  He was surprised to learn from former women’s bobsled coach Bill Tavares that it wasn’t only possible to do both, but encouraged through the Army’s World Class Athlete Program (WCAP).

“WCAP has been great,” Fogt said.  “The program helps us keep our jobs as soldiers first while supporting our efforts as athletes.  I don’t think I really understood what it meant to serve my country until I was deployed, and now serving as both a soldier and athlete has added weight to it.  I’ll never take that American flag on my shoulder for granted.  I know what that means now.”

Fogt competed at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games with fellow WCAP athlete John Napier.  Following the Winter Games, both Fogt and Napier requested deployment from their respective commands. The Olympic teammates were granted permission and given orders for deployment; Napier would serve six months in Afghanistan while Fogt would serve one year in Iraq.

The teammates weren’t sure if or when they would cross paths again during their deployment, and were surprised to run into each other in Kuwait on July 10, 2010 at a staging area for soldiers on their way to either Afghanistan or Iraq.  As they parted ways, the sled mates promised to stay in touch throughout the duration of their deployments.

“We worried about each other because we saw how quickly death can come; you just never know,” Fogt said.  “Napier and I emailed each other every week to check in with each other.  It definitely helped to know my teammate was going through the same thing, because he understood where I was coming from.”

Just weeks earlier Napier and Fogt were waving an American flag at the Olympic closing ceremony, living a carefree bobsled life where winning and losing didn’t equal life and death.  With the Olympic rings fresh in their minds, the Olympic teammates were thrust into the reality of war.

Fogt was quickly nicknamed “Hollywood” by his fellow soldiers.  While they prepared for war, Fogt was on a public press tour, meeting celebrities like Stephen Colbert and shaking hands with the President of the United States at a reception for the 2010 Olympic team at the White House. 

Eager to gain their respect, Fogt stayed up late reading extra reports and learning the history and culture of Iraq.  It only took a couple of weeks before Fogt was recognized as a hard working soldier in the USF-I.

“I knew they saw me as this guy that’s been ‘Hollywooding’ for the last year and that I needed to gain their respect,” Fogt said.  “I believed in the mission and I was there as one of their teammates.  Once they understood that I was fully trained and hard working, they started to introduce me to people as an Olympian.  That’s when I knew they thought I was legit and a part of their team.”

Fogt spent the first six months of his deployment training the Iraqi police force and government agencies, helping them utilize intel work to track down terrorists.  Fogt served as an aid to a two-star general by tracking, predicting and preventing attacks from happening on his final six months of deployment.

Unlike a bobsled run where a mistake at the start could cost the team hundredths of a second and a chance at gold, the result of a failure to report a roadside bomb to a team traveling that route could be deadly.

“I was responsible for people’s lives,” Fogt said.  “We’re a big family over there, so you do everything you can to give teams a heads up on what a potential trigger could be so they can look for it and be prepared.  It’s hard not to feel the weight of that kind of responsibility.”

Fogt’s Army compatriots will be cheering for him in 2014 as he makes a run for his second Olympic team.  The soldiers, sailors, airman and marines he worked with while serving in Iraq have become his biggest fans and motivation.

“It’s so cool to see how excited they get,” Fogt said.  “They know someone on TV that’s like them.  I’m not some Hollywood star; I’m just an average Joe.  But these guys can watch me race and relate to me because I know what it’s like to be afraid of getting blown up and what’s it’s like to be away from your family.  Knowing I bring these guys some kind of strength and happiness is unreal and makes me feel more appreciative and proud to be a soldier.”

Fogt plans on bringing his “never quit” mentality from the Army to bobsledding this season.  Although he may have lost a few pounds while pushing his body to the limits over 14-16 hour work days in 125-degree heat, Fogt said he’s more prepared than ever to compete in bobsled with what he gained in leadership and mental toughness.

“It’ll be good to get back into bobsled and to train with my teammates again,” Fogt said.  “I’ve been home for almost a month now and I’m ready to feel like I’m working towards something again.  The rest and recovery has been great, but it’s go time.”

Fogt returned to the Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, NY over the weekend to begin training for the upcoming 2011-2012 season, which includes World Championships in Lake Placid this February. 

Having traveled to a country where lives are dictated by fear, Fogt plans on enjoying all that freedom offers.  Maybe he’ll go to the mall, take a jog, ride a bike or take a nap.  Whatever he chooses to do, the U.S. Bobsled & Skeleton Federation is happy to have him home and is grateful for the dual role he serves as a soldier-athlete. 

“I’ve been anxious to have him back on our team,” said men’s bobsled head coach Brian Shimer.  “Chris is one of the best push athletes we’ve had in the program.  He was a member of one of the fastest push teams in the world at the Olympics with Steve Langton and Chuck Berkeley in John Napier’s sled, and I expect Chris to be even better in 2014.  He’ll be one of the leaders going into Sochi, putting us on top of the world at the start.  We are so proud of him for the service he’s provided our nation, but we’re happy to have him home.”

Fogt will be back in competitive bobsled action from September 4-10 when he’ll vie for his first national title at U.S. push championships in Lake Placid, NY.

The U.S. Bobsled & Skeleton Federation would like to thank all of our service men and women for allowing our team the opportunity to represent the U.S. in elite competition.

View photos from Fogt’s deployment on the USBSF website here.