Nate Boyer, former Green Beret and NFL player, was interviewed as a guest on The Drive with Steve Jaxon last Monday. The former Texas Longhorns long snapper described his recent experience writing an open letter to San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick about Kaepernick’s protest during the National Anthem at 49ers games, the subsequent conversation between the two, the idea of taking a knee in protest instead of sitting down, and their friendship that ensued, based on mutual respect.
Nate Boyer, as a member of the Texas Longhorns.
Steve Jaxon: All right, we’re excited to talk to our next guest. He is a former member of the US Army Green Berets, former NFL player and former star at UT (the University of Texas) in Austin, where I used to hang. Nate Boyer! Nate, thanks so much.
Nate Boyer: Of course! I don’t know if I was a star at UT. I was a long snapper. I don’t think that those two words belong in the same sentence.
SJ: Explain to our folks who aren’t football people, what a long snapper means.
NB: Oh, well, I didn’t know what it was when I walked on, either. I’ll be straight up, I figured on punts and field goals and extra points. It was just a center who hiked it on those plays as well. There’s actually a person who comes in, a human being known as a long snapper. He goes out there and he only snaps on punts, field goals and extra points and it’s called a long snapper because it’s actually a longer snap than the center would hike to the quarterback.
SJ: Exactly. And you were with the Seahawks for a while?
NB: Yeah, last year, through OTAs and training camp, I was in Seattle.
SJ: Your story is amazing. Let’s go back to the Green Beret part of your career. When and how did that happen?
NB: Well, I joined in 2004, when I signed up, and I didn’t go off to basic (training) until 2005, a little while after 9-11 and it was a lot of things that sort of came together to lead me in that direction. Part of it was me being lost (laughs) as a guy in my early 20s, and I did not really have a purpose and all of that, obviously also 9-11, and I went and did some relief work over in Africa for a while, over in the Darfur region of Sudan. I just really came back with a kind of a refreshed view on things. And I sort of gained patriotism over there because so many people over there appreciated an American coming over and helping them out, what America stands for, they were just enamored by it. I don’t know, I just never felt that kind of pride in my country yet until seeing what the rest of the world lives like on a daily basis.
SJ: How long were you a member of the Green Berets?
NB: I was ten years, total.
SJ: Wow! And, I noticed that you were born in Tennessee but you’re really a Bay Area guy, you grew up in El Cerrito.
NB: Yeah, I was born in Oak Ridge (Tennessee) but when I was two, we moved out to the Bay in El Cerrito until I was about nine or ten, then we moved to Colorado for a bit, then we moved back to the Bay. My family is all still out there. My folks are in the East Bay, my brother is in San Francisco and my sister is up in the North Bay in Santa Rosa.
SJ: Oh, cool, that’s where we broadcast from. Where are you living now, are you in Southern Cal?
NB: Yeah, I’m in Los Angeles right now. I was in Austin for about four and a half years when I was at UT and still serving, and I came out here to make a run at the NFL last year.
SJ: Now, we’ve got to get into the Colin Kaepernick situation here. A great story, we’ve all been hearing about this for a number of weeks. Let me see if I’ve got this part right. Colin was sitting on the bench during the National Anthem a few times. And then you wrote an article about all that. Take it from there.
NB: Yeah, it was an open letter, to Colin just sort of… I was asked to write an article, an opinion piece, by the Army Times, and I told them, look, everyone’s got an opinion on this thing, I’d rather just write it as if I were having a discussion with Colin, if I had five minutes to talk to him, about what I was feeling, not what he should do, what he shouldn’t do, all that. And so I just came from a place of, more of just trying to listen and understand and be open minded about it and it kind of caught fire. And then he got ahold of it and reached out to me, which was really cool, and actually invited me to meet him down in San Diego for the last pre-season game.
SJ: Right. And you guys I guess kind of hit it off, and from what we’ve read, you’ve kind of formed a friendship?
NB: Yeah! We don’t talk a ton, to be honest, he’s in the middle of a football season, and he is getting hit up from all directions by a lot of organizations and very influential people. So, you know… But the fact that he reached out to me meant a lot to me, that was big time, I thought. I hope things continue to progress and we continue to kind of involve, that he continues to involve the veteran community and also the Boys in Blue, the police officers, firefighters and all that, as far as really trying to work towards positive progress, while uniting and sort of working together. That’s my hope.
SJ: We’re talking to NFL player, former Green Beret, Nate Boyer. Now he brings you down to San Diego and invites you to San Diego, you guys have a meeting and then, instead of sitting on the bench, during that game at the National Anthem, he took a knee. Was that at your suggestion?
NB: It was something we sort of came to together. You know, we were just talking about different ways to display, to demonstrate, what he was trying to, I guess, people like to use the word “protest” (but I’m trying to stay away from that one, because it sounds so negative) but a way to, in a sense, take a stand for what he believes in while also respecting those that fought (and many that died) for this country and the freedoms that he is expressing, that freedom of speech. So we sort of came to a neutral place, to where I thought that that was a big step for him to be alongside his team mates, taking a knee, rather than isolated, sitting back on the bench. I think it was much more respectful.
SJ: And I think everyone who saw that felt the same, I know I did. And now there are others who are doing that, during the National Anthem, in the NFL. It’s such a great story. It’s an honor to talk to you, man. So, what are your thoughts on the whole thing? You don’t have to go into detail of what you and Colin talked about…
NB: At this point, I think what’s most important is that he takes action. And I know that committing on the financial side of things is great. It is.
SJ: Yeah, he’s going to give a million bucks, right?
NB: Yeah, and in addition to that, all the money from his jersey sales. So that’s great, that’s awesome. But, to take it a step further, I think what’s more important than the money is investing time, getting involved at the grass roots level, you know, “boots on the ground” in the community, being a part of the changes that he wants to see, and embracing the police force, too, and those guys, too. If that’s where he believes the changes should be made in policy, and in training, then he needs to – in my opinion – to reach out to them as well and sort of bring them into the fold. Because he does respect the ones that do it the right way, we talked about that. And he respects a lot of the military and all that. There are a lot of cops who are great people that do it the right way every day, and that needs to be recognized. That’s a tough job right now in America. You don’t get paid a lot of money and, you know, you have a target on your back, unfortunately.
SJ: Now, again, and part of the controversy was some people thinking that he was, because it was the National Anthem and the flag, you know, that he was some sort of, somehow, anti-military, and that wasn’t the case.
NB: No, not the case at all. What I saw it as was anti-American when I first saw it, I just made that judgement, that’s what it looked like to me. That was just my perception, that’s not the reality, especially after meeting with him. So I’m glad that I wrote the letter in the way that I did. When I first sat down to write it, I had a different voice in mind, and then I kind of just stopped myself and just thought about, “What am I doing here?” you know, and I took advice from my Mom. My Mom said, “The last thing we need right now is more hate, so just be careful with what you write.” She’s a very conservative person and she said that, and that meant a lot. So that sort of changed my thinking on the whole thing and my approach. And I think it led things in a positive direction. So I just hope that it continues down that path.
SJ: In San Diego, when Colin took the knee, during the National Anthem, you were standing next to him, with your hand over your heart, during the anthem?
NB: Yes, yes. He invited me onto the field to stand alongside him while he did that for that game. So that was a powerful image.
SJ: My producer Mike tells me that you’re working on maybe setting up a round table with people like Colin and other NFL players, the police chief from Dallas…
NB: I’d like to. I’ve got a lot of people like the police chief, like David Brown, the Dallas police chief and other veterans and a lot of people that are on board for that. It’s a tough time, now that the season has started, to get Colin and some of these other players to be able to break away for something like that. But it’s a discussion that needs to happen, and something, I think, that needs to be broadcast so that America can see these discussions occur and that it’s OK to listen to the other side.
SJ: Exactly. Well, unfortunately as a Niner fan, I think you could probably get this together and Colin will be available during the playoffs. Unfortunately.
NB: We’ll see what happens, you never know.
SJ: Former Green Beret and NFL player Nate Boyer, the guy who went down to San Diego at the invitation of Colin Kaepernick and they have now formed a friendship. Great work you’re doing, Nate! We’re all proud of you and thanks for your service to the country and thanks for taking the time to talk to us, man.
NB: Absolutely, thank you very much.
SJ: All right, you’re welcome. Have a great day.