Meet Shelby Lee Jr.: The LSU football player who served in the Army
BATON ROUGE — Shelby Lee Jr. knew there was only one way out.
The Bulsivar Freedom Brigade had cornered him and roughly 100 of his fellow battle mates in a building during a training exercise in Razish, a military training village in Fort Irwin, California. But on the first floor of the structure, there was a barred window just wide enough for Lee to get through.
"You'd have to squeeze to get out," Kerenton Green, Lee's friend and fellow battlemate at the time, said.
Lee took his chance and escaped as his battle mates in the building failed to do the same and were all eliminated. He went on to survive by himself in the desert city for another six hours, eliminating members of the opposing brigade — which had 300-400 people — before eventually getting caught.
Extraordinary feats such as this were ordinary for Lee during his 28 months as a member of the Fury Troop 211 Armor Cavalry Regiment in the Army. Under the command of Sergeant Ridge Scovil — first as Lee's platoon sergeant and then later as his first sergeant — Lee was a "team player" who went above and beyond to help others in the troop.
"Even the post commander knew of Shelby Lee for what he was doing because he had just that big of an effect on everyone," Scovil said.
So as LSU football prepares to face Army for the first time since 1931 on Saturday (6:30 p.m., SEC Network), these are the traits Lee — now a redshirt junior linebacker at LSU — has brought to Baton Rouge as a walk-on and member of LSU's scout team.
"He's an outstanding walk-on," LSU coach Brian Kelly said. "He's well-liked by the team (and) works his tail off. He brings all of the traits that you would expect (from) a guy that is mature and represents his country.
"We enjoy having him with us."
The life of a specialist in Fury Troop 211
First formation — roll call in the barracks — for Fury Troop 211 would be around 6-6:30 every morning. Roll call proceeded before physical training, where Lee excelled more than most of his peers.
"Not many people can beat me in (physical training) and he would beat me in PT," Scovil said.
Breakfast followed physical training before troop members performed their assigned tasks for the day. Much of their work involved preparing for an upcoming mission, whether that was performing maintenance on tanks or cleaning weapons.
Fury Troop 211's primary objective at Forth Irwin was to prepare brigades before they were deployed into the field for battle. Scovil estimates that his troop helped prepare 30 different brigade units for their eventual deployment during Lee's time at the base.
"We simulate as the enemy for the U.S.," Scovil said. "We act as another force, another army's forces. And then the unit that comes in (and) they train for about a year to two years. They come (to places like Fort Irwin) to get ready.
"It's pretty much their last training event before a unit goes to war, before a unit deploys to a different country."
For Lee and his fellow troopmates, sometimes that meant dressing up as an armed civilian in Razish and trying to survive an invading brigade. Other times it required completing a training task out in the desert for 10-14 hours, sometimes in bad weather conditions, without much food or water and only on a few hours of sleep.
Also, if the troop ever had a misstep during a mission, they would have to start all over again.
"When I first got there, it would happen a lot. Like every day or every mission," Green, who was also a specialist in Fury Troop 211, said.
Lee, meanwhile, proved to be a resilient troop member through that grind, often volunteering to take on 24-hour guard shifts and with the base's chaplain corps while still helping his battle buddies through missions.
"He would go out of his way and help his peers and other soldiers that were with him to get things done and volunteer," Scovil said.
HAROLD PERKINS POSITIONAL SHIFT: LSU football: How a positional shift allowed Harold Perkins to improve in pass coverage
BRIAN KELLY'S WINS: Brian Kelly is one win shy of 300 career wins. Here's why that's a good sign for LSU moving forward
CLAPPING PENALTIES: Why Brian Kelly said the clapping penalties against LSU football's defense are 'ridiculous'
Unbreakable bonds
When Lequon Moran-Cunniff first arrived at Fort Irwin, nothing seemed to come to him easy.
He had trouble adjusting to life in the military — the strict rules, stringent deadlines, meetings upon meetings and rigorous physical training sessions.
Eventually, he found some help.
Lee, who who arrived at Fort Irwin roughly six months after Moran-Cunniff, developed a strong bond with Moran-Cunniff and Green within the force and began to teach Moran-Cunniff valuable lessons that he's held onto to this day.
Moran-Cunniff credits Lee with teaching him to stop worrying about external factors and focus on controlling what he can control, helping him calm his nerves. He also commends Lee for helping him boost his confidence with talking with girls.
"Our energies basically matched," he said. "(Lee's) very outgoing, very extroverted. Just a very social person and very positive person as well.
After a year in the troop, Moran-Cunniff had adjusted to life in the military. His career was heading in the right direction, as he was also on track to become a noncommission officer.
But then he suffered a setback. Toward the latter half of his time with the troop, Moran-Cunniff was involved in a bad car accident, starting a chain of events that eventually led him to leaving the troop.
"I was depressed for like a whole year after I crashed my car," Moran-Cunniff said. "Because I didn't have insurance on it at the time and I was just really down bad."
After the accident, Lee and Green were there to support Moran-Cunniff with anything he needed, whether that was financial help or emotional support.
"(Lee) was one of the main factors, one of the main reasons why I was able to get back up on my feet," Moran-Cunniff said.
Although he may no longer be with the troop, Moran-Cunniff is still in the military, serving in the National Guard in Massachusetts. Green also now serves with the National Guard in Arkansas.
Lee, of course, is now a football player at LSU. Scovil even remembers that Lee's dream when he arrived at the troop was to become an NFL player.
But the memories of Lee that also stick to Scovil were how goal-driven he was and how well he understood the importance of helping others and contributing to a team.
"The way he took care of his battle buddies, his friends and stuff, that was second to none," Scovil said. "There was nobody who disliked Lee. Every single person loved him."
Get the latest news and insight on SEC football by subscribing to the SEC Unfiltered newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox.
Koki Riley covers LSU sports for The Daily Advertiser. Email him at kriley@theadvertiser.com and follow him on Twitter at @KokiRiley
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: LSU football player Shelby Lee was in the Army for over two years
