Coach Coughlin tonight will be in Arlington, Va., where he will receive the Outstanding Civilian Service Award, the third highest honor the United States Department of the Army can bestow upon a private citizen.
The award will be presented by Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the Chief of Staff of the Army, a fervent Giants fan who has become a close friend of Coughlin's. Odierno attended Coughlin's Jay Fund Foundation dinner and golf tournament in Jacksonville earlier this week.
The citation that will be presented to Coughlin will read:
"For outstanding service to the United States Army, Soldiers and families. Your consistent, outward public support of the U.S. Army and the military in general have had far reaching positive impacts on the health and morale of our service members at home and deployed overseas. Your generous outreach to servicemen and women and military families through opportunities to attend New York Giants practices and games and your visits with Soldiers have been remarkable. Your trip to Iraq and participation in the USO tour in July 2009 significantly improved the morale of our deployed Soldiers. The New York Giants players and coaches visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center following the 2008 Super Bowl victory tremendously improved the morale of our wounded warriors and was a testament to your continued substantial support to our wounded warrior program. Your selfless, outstanding efforts have had dramatic, positive impacts on the health of the force, our Soldiers and the United States Army."
Coughlin has been a fierce supporter of the men and women who serve in the U.S. Armed Forces. In 2009, he visited Iraq on the inaugural NFL-USO Coaches Tour. Coughlin has been actively involved with the Wounded Warriors Project.
"It's always been a strong belief on my part to be supportive of our military," Coughlin said. "You have to remember, I was in college during the Vietnam era and I just have great respect for people who make the sacrifices that our armed forces do for the rest of us."
Coughlin is receiving The Outstanding Citizen Service Award for his unwavering support of the military.
"I think it's a tremendous honor," Coughlin said. "I'm very humbled in receiving this honor, and I look forward to spending an evening with General Odierno and the other people being honored. I have learned a little more what this honor is over the last week or so. Like I said, it's very humbling. It's an honor to be in that company and to realize the historical significance of where we will be once this takes place tonight… where all the chiefs of staff who lived and going way back to the 1800's and what this represents in terms of our support for the military, our men and women who serve our country. If you think back going all the way to back to 9/11 and how that changed the way, I hope, all Americans feel about our armed forces, the changing of the way in which war is conducted… what they do for us on a daily basis, so we can work in this great National Football League and all Americans can sleep under the blanket of freedom. It is a very, very humbling experience."
