24/25 SEPT, BELTON, TX- ArmyBassAnglers and Veteran Outdoors team up again to "ambush" another unsuspecting soldier with a fishing trip of a life time. This time the lucky soldier was Army SSG Ross Mogg of Ft. Hood, TX.
SSG Mogg recently signed up to participate in the 2010 Fishing for Freedom bass fishing Tournament hosted by the Central Texas Marine Association and was paired with ArmyBassAnglers Pro/President Cody Roberson. Unknown to SSG Mogg, he had hit the preverbal-jack pot! "Every year we support and fish the Fishing for Freedom event and it has become a long standing tradition that the lucky soldiers that are matched with ArmyBassAngler Pros' well, regardless if they win anything in the tournament or not they are already winners because our sponsors go above-and beyond to make it a special day for them to say the least. Each soldier once paired with an ArmyBassAngler is then presented with literally hundreds to thousands of dollars of custom fishing equipment as a special "thank you" on behalf of all the ArmyBassAngler sponsors each year, " stated Roberson. "And this year was no different minus two really cool exceptions."
This year's sponsor gifts included a ton of great items provided by Earth Sports, Oakley, TipSee Lights, Ardent, Zero Tolerance Knives, FirstCommand, Faculty of Fishing, Castaway, Dobyns, Lake Fork Trophy Lures, ArmyBassAnglers, Tightlines, Victory Tackle, JaRod Jigs, All Seasons Feeders, Skeeter, Realty Executives, Gold Financial Services, The Rod Glove, Bass Pro Shops, Aggregate Haulers, Mt.Borah, Tuff Skinz and several individual donors. "We can't execute our Mission without the incredible support from our sponsors and they literally go the extra mile for us each and every year we support this event to make it special for the soldiers," said Roberson during the banquet.
Prior to the event Roberson contacted his partner SSG Mogg and coordinated for the two to meet on the 23rd prior to the event. Unknown to SSG Mogg, Roberson precoordinated with Tournament Director Cliff Brown and several Elite and FLW Pros for SSG Mogg to participate in a once -in-a-life-time training opportunity to be a Black Hawk Pilot in the flight simulators! As SSG Mogg met Roberson at the pre-determined location, Roberson sprung the trap with Veterans Outdoors and The Elite and FLW Pros. "SSG Mogg, I'd like for you to meet a couple of friends of mine, FLW Pro/President of Lake Fork Trophy Lures and Wal-Mart Open Champion Mark Pack, Elite Series Pro Gary Klein, FLW Pro and Collegiate Champion Justin Rackley, Elite Pro and Fishing Legend Zell Rowland and ArmyBassAnglers Pro and Former Armed Forces Champion Randy Sitz. These gentlemen will not only be competing against you in this weekend's tournament but all of yall are about to spend the next 4 hrs training to be Army Black Hawk Pilots in the simulator all while being featured on Veterans Outdoors TV-HOOAH! "
SSG Mogg was just a bit taken back and a bit speechless. The group then moved to the facility for training where they spent the next 4 hrs conducting flight training. SSG Mogg was the first to go. Each participant would train the following individual in 30 minute sessions. "Everyone had an incredible time, and let's just say some of them will be sticking to fishing as a profession," laughed Roberson and "we can't thank Cliff Brown enough for putting the training together."
This was just the tip of the ice berg as festivities kicked off for the weekend at the big banquet at the Killeen convention center, hosted by the Central Texas Marine Association. Classes were provided by the Pros, great food was had by all, tons of prizes were given away, boaters and anglers met their team mates and the entire convention center was filled. At the conclusion of the banquet each ArmyBassAngler Pro and his partner was presented with an incredible amount of gifts from the ArmyBassAngler Sponsors. New for this year, ArmyBassAngler Coalition Pros were in attendance and participated with their matched up Soldier. "The Coalition is a totally new program ArmyBassAnglers has added to the organization. The Coalition are combat multipliers/service members that extend the organizations reach to support the Mission across the country at great events like this. With their support we were able to help the Central Texas Marine Association take more soldiers out fishing and that's exactly what we're all about," stated Roberson.
After all the gifts were presented to the group of anglers and SSG Mogg a group photo was taken and everyone was wished the best of luck for the next day's tournament. 0600, SSG Mogg and Roberson link up for a day of fishing, but first Roberson had to replace that ugly shirt, hat and tackle box SSG Mogg was sporting by replacing it with a Honorary ArmyBassAnglers Pro Staff custom sublimated tournament shirt, custom tournament hat and brand new tackle box from Bass Pro Shops to put all his new gear in. "I was just blown away," said Mogg. "Every time I turned around, they had me in flight training, hanging out with Elite Pros, introducing me to more Pros, handing me gift after gift, taking me fishing on a custom wrapped boat and getting to be on National TV�I just couldn't believe it was all happening. It was kind of unreal."
As the tournament kicked off Roberson and Mogg headed to their first point. The day was filled with a lot of fun and fishing. Both SSG Mogg and Roberson would catch fish all day long but just couldn't seem to come up with anything more than the famous- Belton Bullets. "Today we had a great time. These events are not about winning, sure it would be nice, but today was all about SSG Mogg and his story. SSG Mogg is a true American Hero, as are all the soldiers in the event and those fishing with our Coalition and ArmyBassAngler Pros. Today is about them and more importantly about guys like SSG Mogg and having fun while fishing. And today we accomplished that mission 100%," said Roberson. "My favorite moment of the day was when the event camera boat came by and SSG Mogg set the hook on a nice fish and landed it right in front of the cameras. The timing couldn't have been better. The smile on his face, was priceless and the smiles of all the soldiers as they came in from a day of fishing with their Coalition Pro or ArmyBassAngler Pro is exactly why we SUPPORT.DEFEND.FISH."
All the ArmyBassAnglers and Coalition teams executed the Mission in a true professional manner and all returned with incredible stories of fun, fishing and commradiery. For more information on ArmyBassAnglers and the Coalition visit www.ArmyBassAnglers.com and find out how you can SUPPORT.DEFEND.FISH.- HOOAH!