Army West Point Athletics
MISSION FIRST: Under The Wire
November 03, 2016 | General, Men's Cross Country, Men's Track and Field
"I knew instantly that my life changed."
Lt. Col. Liam Collins was overseas completing exercises with his Special Forces unit on Sept. 11, 2001, and that night he knew things were going to change, but he was ready for the challenge.
A month later he was dropping into Afghanistan.
"It was something that you had been training for your whole career," says Collins. "In a lot of ways it is like a firefighter. You train and train and train and you really don't want to go, but part of you wants to go. You constantly have that feeling that it is best that you never had to go, but if someone has to go, I hope I am the one to go."
Being involved in combat situations was fairly new for the Green Beret and U.S. Army Ranger. He had completed many operational deployments to Bosnia, the Balkans, Africa and South America, but those assignments were not high-intense missions. However, Collins used those experiences to strengthen his knowledge to be prepared for a jump like the one he did in October 2001.
"The Bosnian and Balkans really weren't intense conflicts, but I still went with the Special Forces unit and trained as if it could happen at any time," Collins adds. "Once you get the call to go, it is too late to start prepping. So when 9/11 did happen we were trained. We were ready to go and we didn't need time to train to go into combat, we were already prepared."
Collins was confident in his team going into the jump. Each member had their job to do because they were prepared. Â
"When I think about an operation, I don't think about what I have to do. I already know what I have to do because we have done it so many times," Collins says. "All I think about is all the things that could possibly go wrong. That way if something goes wrong you can react to it."
The team felt the only way to get into the country was to complete a high-altitude, high-opening operation, which means to open the parachute a few seconds after exiting the aircraft. So at 18,000 feet, the unit started the Army's first mission in Afghanistan.
Collins and his team took fire after the jump, had some close calls and countless other missions throughout his deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq. He never allowed fear or adrenaline to interrupt because he had been training for years; it almost came natural while out on the battlefield. He drew part of that mentality from his athletic competitions.
"In training you have prepared so many times that it is just almost natural, and, in some ways it is almost like an athletic competition," Collins says. "When nobody is shooting at you, you're stress level is too low. Once the shooting starts you are at the optimal performance level because you are just excited. So some of that comes from athletics and all those years of competition where you have got to be just a little bit nervous to be at peak performance. I think that paid off for me."
The 1992 West Point graduate was a four-year letterwinner in cross country and outdoor track. He earned his bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering and later was awarded a master's and Ph.D. from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
In Collins' words, he wasn't the typical high school student applying to West Point. His family didn't have a long military lineage and the Academy wasn't something he thought about until his senior year. Luckily for Collins, he stumbled upon West Point.
"It was senior year of high school and I didn't really know what I wanted to go to college for, or where I wanted to go, or what I wanted to do, or how I was going to pay for it," Collins says. "I figured, 'What the heck, West Point sounds like a good school with a great reputation. I can go to school there and if I don't like it after a couple of years I can always leave.' Obviously it ended up being a great choice for me."
No one had approached him about applying to the Academy, which led to him almost missing the nomination deadline.
"By the time I figured out I was considering West Point, all the nominations had closed except for one representative, and that nomination was due in about a week." Collins adds. "So he had to FedEx the paperwork overnight to get it to me, so I could fill it out and send it back to make his deadline to get the nomination."
Collins learned a lot from being an athlete at West Point and it helped in his transition into the Army.
Collins came back to West Point to teach in the Department of Social Sciences in 2009 and was the Executive Director of the Combating Terrorism Center (CTC). That is where he met 1977 U.S. Military Academy graduate Vinny Viola and where the story of Liam's Map starts.
When Collins left the CTC in 2011 to move to the Department of Social Sciences, he decided to give Viola a token of his appreciation for what he had done for the CTC since the beginning. At first he struggled to find something because he wanted it to be special. That was when he got the idea of giving Viola his map that he jumped into Afghanistan with.
"One of the things we had were these silky maps," Collins says. "They are basically used for escape and evasion, so if the worst thing happened you would have a map of the country that you could also use to secure water and sift out sediment from it and purify it or use it to wrap something up."
Each map was issued with its own serial number, so if the map was found, without its holder, at least one would know whose map it was and where they might have been going. Â
"I gave Mr. Viola that map and explained the story behind it and he was touched by that," Collins adds.
Viola was so moved by the gesture that six months later he called Collins to tell him he decided to name his race horse after the map and Liam.
Liam's Map was a colt born in 2011 in Kentucky and as a yearling was purchased by the Violas. The gray horse ran in eight races over a two-year career, which started in 2014. He won two races in his first season on the track with victories at Belmont Park and Aqueduct Racetrack. But his coming out party occurred in 2015.
"It took a while for the horse to mature, and as a 4-year old it really turned it on," Collins adds.
Collins had stayed away from the racetrack for the horse's first seven races. In fear that if he showed up the horse wouldn't do well.
"All I could think was that I was scared out of my mind and hoped that the horse was a better runner than I was," states Collins, while joking about his nerves and belief in superstitions. "I wanted to go see a race, but I was afraid if I went and the horse didn't do well, I would be responsible because I am superstitious and somehow it would be my fault."
The second season for Liam's Map was amazing. He earned two wins leading up to the Breeders' Cup race at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky. Liam's Map was entered into the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile on Oct. 30. It was going to be his last race and Viola needed the horse's namesake at the racetrack.
"With a purse of one million dollars, he invited me and I reluctantly agreed to go watch it," Collins adds. "My wife and I were joking; saying what happens if the horse doesn't win? You realize we can never ever go to one of these ever again."
Collins couldn't have been more wrong about bringing bad luck.
He and his wife, Judy, got the star treatment at Keeneland. They got to see all the horses come out for the race and then sat in the owner's box. Once the bell rang for the start of the race, it got a little stressful.
Liam's Map had a reputation for front-running speed and rarely came from the back, so when he was boxed in twice, Collins thought the race was over. He had no reason to think otherwise because the horse sat fifth at the three-quarters mark and four lengths off the leader and race-favorite, Lea.
All Liam's Map needed was a sliver of daylight and he found it. He shot out like a cannon and erased the deficit in dramatic fashion with a victory by 2 1/2 lengths.
"It was phenomenal to watch him and watch him win in that way when you thought he lost it," Collins says. "It was a pretty amazing experience. I was humbled to be a part of it and definitely a once in a lifetime experience."
West Point has helped Collins take quite a ride though his military career and along the way he always thought he had the best job ever. Â
"After I graduated I figured I was going to do it until it was no longer fun," Collins says. "So it's been awesome. I thought Platoon Leader was going to be the best job I ever had and then the next job was better than that as a Detachment Commander in the Special Forces. Then I got Second Detachment and that was even better than the first one."
Collins currently works in the Department Military Instruction as the Defense & Strategic Studies Program Director. He also has spent seven years as a volunteer assistant coach for the cross country and track and field team under former head coach Troy Engle and present head coach Mike Smith.
He jokes that he hasn't grown up yet and doesn't know what he wants to do once he retires from the Army.
"I have been postponing this decision my whole life and I finally have to figure it out, but I haven't totally figured it out yet," Collins says.
The Army has taken Collins around the globe. It has put him in harm's way in the Middle East, to the Winners Circle at a prestigious horse race. Not bad for a high school senior that nearly missed the deadline to this amazing career.
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Lt. Col. Liam Collins was overseas completing exercises with his Special Forces unit on Sept. 11, 2001, and that night he knew things were going to change, but he was ready for the challenge.
A month later he was dropping into Afghanistan.
"It was something that you had been training for your whole career," says Collins. "In a lot of ways it is like a firefighter. You train and train and train and you really don't want to go, but part of you wants to go. You constantly have that feeling that it is best that you never had to go, but if someone has to go, I hope I am the one to go."
Being involved in combat situations was fairly new for the Green Beret and U.S. Army Ranger. He had completed many operational deployments to Bosnia, the Balkans, Africa and South America, but those assignments were not high-intense missions. However, Collins used those experiences to strengthen his knowledge to be prepared for a jump like the one he did in October 2001.
"The Bosnian and Balkans really weren't intense conflicts, but I still went with the Special Forces unit and trained as if it could happen at any time," Collins adds. "Once you get the call to go, it is too late to start prepping. So when 9/11 did happen we were trained. We were ready to go and we didn't need time to train to go into combat, we were already prepared."
Collins was confident in his team going into the jump. Each member had their job to do because they were prepared. Â
"When I think about an operation, I don't think about what I have to do. I already know what I have to do because we have done it so many times," Collins says. "All I think about is all the things that could possibly go wrong. That way if something goes wrong you can react to it."
The team felt the only way to get into the country was to complete a high-altitude, high-opening operation, which means to open the parachute a few seconds after exiting the aircraft. So at 18,000 feet, the unit started the Army's first mission in Afghanistan.
Collins and his team took fire after the jump, had some close calls and countless other missions throughout his deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq. He never allowed fear or adrenaline to interrupt because he had been training for years; it almost came natural while out on the battlefield. He drew part of that mentality from his athletic competitions.
"In training you have prepared so many times that it is just almost natural, and, in some ways it is almost like an athletic competition," Collins says. "When nobody is shooting at you, you're stress level is too low. Once the shooting starts you are at the optimal performance level because you are just excited. So some of that comes from athletics and all those years of competition where you have got to be just a little bit nervous to be at peak performance. I think that paid off for me."
The 1992 West Point graduate was a four-year letterwinner in cross country and outdoor track. He earned his bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering and later was awarded a master's and Ph.D. from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
In Collins' words, he wasn't the typical high school student applying to West Point. His family didn't have a long military lineage and the Academy wasn't something he thought about until his senior year. Luckily for Collins, he stumbled upon West Point.
"It was senior year of high school and I didn't really know what I wanted to go to college for, or where I wanted to go, or what I wanted to do, or how I was going to pay for it," Collins says. "I figured, 'What the heck, West Point sounds like a good school with a great reputation. I can go to school there and if I don't like it after a couple of years I can always leave.' Obviously it ended up being a great choice for me."
No one had approached him about applying to the Academy, which led to him almost missing the nomination deadline.
"By the time I figured out I was considering West Point, all the nominations had closed except for one representative, and that nomination was due in about a week." Collins adds. "So he had to FedEx the paperwork overnight to get it to me, so I could fill it out and send it back to make his deadline to get the nomination."
Collins learned a lot from being an athlete at West Point and it helped in his transition into the Army.
Collins came back to West Point to teach in the Department of Social Sciences in 2009 and was the Executive Director of the Combating Terrorism Center (CTC). That is where he met 1977 U.S. Military Academy graduate Vinny Viola and where the story of Liam's Map starts.
When Collins left the CTC in 2011 to move to the Department of Social Sciences, he decided to give Viola a token of his appreciation for what he had done for the CTC since the beginning. At first he struggled to find something because he wanted it to be special. That was when he got the idea of giving Viola his map that he jumped into Afghanistan with.
"One of the things we had were these silky maps," Collins says. "They are basically used for escape and evasion, so if the worst thing happened you would have a map of the country that you could also use to secure water and sift out sediment from it and purify it or use it to wrap something up."
Each map was issued with its own serial number, so if the map was found, without its holder, at least one would know whose map it was and where they might have been going. Â
"I gave Mr. Viola that map and explained the story behind it and he was touched by that," Collins adds.
Viola was so moved by the gesture that six months later he called Collins to tell him he decided to name his race horse after the map and Liam.
Liam's Map was a colt born in 2011 in Kentucky and as a yearling was purchased by the Violas. The gray horse ran in eight races over a two-year career, which started in 2014. He won two races in his first season on the track with victories at Belmont Park and Aqueduct Racetrack. But his coming out party occurred in 2015.
"It took a while for the horse to mature, and as a 4-year old it really turned it on," Collins adds.
Collins had stayed away from the racetrack for the horse's first seven races. In fear that if he showed up the horse wouldn't do well.
"All I could think was that I was scared out of my mind and hoped that the horse was a better runner than I was," states Collins, while joking about his nerves and belief in superstitions. "I wanted to go see a race, but I was afraid if I went and the horse didn't do well, I would be responsible because I am superstitious and somehow it would be my fault."
The second season for Liam's Map was amazing. He earned two wins leading up to the Breeders' Cup race at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky. Liam's Map was entered into the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile on Oct. 30. It was going to be his last race and Viola needed the horse's namesake at the racetrack.
"With a purse of one million dollars, he invited me and I reluctantly agreed to go watch it," Collins adds. "My wife and I were joking; saying what happens if the horse doesn't win? You realize we can never ever go to one of these ever again."
Collins couldn't have been more wrong about bringing bad luck.
He and his wife, Judy, got the star treatment at Keeneland. They got to see all the horses come out for the race and then sat in the owner's box. Once the bell rang for the start of the race, it got a little stressful.
Liam's Map had a reputation for front-running speed and rarely came from the back, so when he was boxed in twice, Collins thought the race was over. He had no reason to think otherwise because the horse sat fifth at the three-quarters mark and four lengths off the leader and race-favorite, Lea.
All Liam's Map needed was a sliver of daylight and he found it. He shot out like a cannon and erased the deficit in dramatic fashion with a victory by 2 1/2 lengths.
"It was phenomenal to watch him and watch him win in that way when you thought he lost it," Collins says. "It was a pretty amazing experience. I was humbled to be a part of it and definitely a once in a lifetime experience."
West Point has helped Collins take quite a ride though his military career and along the way he always thought he had the best job ever. Â
"After I graduated I figured I was going to do it until it was no longer fun," Collins says. "So it's been awesome. I thought Platoon Leader was going to be the best job I ever had and then the next job was better than that as a Detachment Commander in the Special Forces. Then I got Second Detachment and that was even better than the first one."
Collins currently works in the Department Military Instruction as the Defense & Strategic Studies Program Director. He also has spent seven years as a volunteer assistant coach for the cross country and track and field team under former head coach Troy Engle and present head coach Mike Smith.
He jokes that he hasn't grown up yet and doesn't know what he wants to do once he retires from the Army.
"I have been postponing this decision my whole life and I finally have to figure it out, but I haven't totally figured it out yet," Collins says.
The Army has taken Collins around the globe. It has put him in harm's way in the Middle East, to the Winners Circle at a prestigious horse race. Not bad for a high school senior that nearly missed the deadline to this amazing career.
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