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Fort Bragg excited for upcoming Major League game
- Updated: May 30, 2016
When 1st Lt. Jon Crucitti heard that Major League Baseball was bringing a regular-season game to the U.S. Army base in North Carolina that is home to his 82nd Airborne division and some 55,000 service members and their families, he was shaking his head with disbelief. How? Where? Can it be true?
A lifetime fan of baseball — particularly the Braves — who played at West Point, Crucitti knew it would be quite the endeavor, and a dream come true for someone who has devoted his young life to the country’s military and America’s pastime. So as the field began to take shape for the Fort Bragg Game between the Braves and Marlins on July 3 — MLB’s unprecedented Fourth of July Weekend tribute to the nation’s armed forces — the 24-year-old had the unique confluence of his two greatest passions in his sights.
“I couldn’t find out enough about it fast enough,” said Crucitti, a 2014 West Point graduate who played for the Black Knights on a special crossroads for baseball and the military, Doubleday Field.
There is enormous excitement brewing on the base and a through-the-roof ticket demand for the game, a little more than a month away. But on this day, Memorial Day, we can’t lose sight of what Fort Bragg really is. It is the largest military base in the world, home to 10 percent of the Army’s entire population. It is home to some 200,000 people, including approximately 55,000 service members, plus their families, retirees and civilians. It is known as being the home of Airborne and Special Operations. And special Memorial Day events and remembrances have taken place on the base all weekend, and will continue on Monday. And if that’s doesn’t hit home, know that Crucitti is about to deploy for a month to Europe as an infantry officer with the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division — part of the Global Response Force, tasked with being anywhere in the world in 18 hours if called upon. The timing of the deployment, however, has him back stateside in time for the game.
“I’m planning on hopping that first plane back,” said Crucitti, who hails from Mooresville, north of Charlotte, and is proud to call Carolina part of Braves Country. “I’ll be there with my Braves hat on, standing by.”
Christina Douglas, a Fort Bragg spokesperson, said soldiers currently deployed overseas have even …
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