Tampa Bay Bucs salute MacDill servicemembers

  • Published
  • By Tech Sgt. Peter Dean
  • 927th Air Refueling Wing/Public Affairs
MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  The final day of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Training Camp, was no ordinary day at One Buc Place, Tampa, Florida. Instead of the bleachers filled with your traditional fans, Airmen from the 927th Air Refueling Wing along with other military members from MacDill Air Force Base showed up in force to cheer on their hometown team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
 
Closed to the general public, the Bucs opened their gates and completed their final day of training camp with a Salute to the Military.

"Thank you for coming out today, and thank you for all that you do," said Brian Ford, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Chief Operating Officer.  "Without your efforts we could not do what we do, we are honored to have you here today."

The Bucs are coming into this season with high hopes and top draft picks, and by looking around the bleachers the 12th man is here in force.

"They're our hometown team, and we're here to support them," said Brian Mounts, Air Force Reserve Recruiting, MacDill flight chief. "Win or lose they will hear us cheering them on, they'll know we still believe."

Being the last day of training camp, and some of the players still gunning for a spot on the roster, the players were giving it their all and then some, but that was not their only motivation to give it their all.

"It was amazing," said Jamison Winston, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, quarterback. "We normally get to practice in front of kids that view us as their heroes, today we got to practice in front of you guys [the U.S. Military] our heroes, it was amazing."