927th Members honored at Tampa Bay Rowdies game

  • Published
  • By Maj. Shane Huff
  • 927th Air Refueling Wing
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. --  The Tampa Bay Rowdies held a military appreciation night Friday to kick off the Memorial Day weekend.

The Rowdies donated approximately 300 free tickets to servicemembers at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla. for the 25 May soccer match between the Rowdies and the Minnesota Stars Football Club.

Members of the 927th Air Refueling Wing Honor Guard team were invited to present the colors at the opening ceremonies.  

Colonel Ted Mathews, Jr., vice commander of the 927th Air Refueling Wing, tossed the game coin to decide who received the ball first. He was recognized for his recent deployment to Nasiriyah, Iraq where he commanded the 407 Air Expeditionary Group at Ali Air Base. He was charged with overseeing runway operations for the last military airport to close with the draw down efforts there.

Lieutenant Colonel CJ Newhouse, commander of the 45th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, was recognized at halftime for her recent overseas deployment where she commanded the 379th Expeditionary Aeromedical Evacuation (AE) Squadron based in Al Udeid, Qatar which had crews stationed in both Qatar and Afghanistan. Her area of responsibility was the Arabian Peninsula, the Horn of Africa, and Afghanistan. The AE crews she was responsible for transported approximately 1,000 coalition wounded and ill patients to a higher echelon of care.

The Rowdies are part of the North American Soccer League (NASL) and play their home games at Al Lang Stadium on the waterfront of downtown St. Petersburg.