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Before they became career football men, Tim Kish and Bill Baker knew what it was to be draft eligible.

And it didn't have a thing to do with the NFL.

Kish, the UA's assistant head coach, and Baker, the school's assistant director of football operations, were randomly assigned Selective Service draft numbers during the Vietnam War.

It is not something you forget.

"My draft number was 27,'' Baker said Thursday during the UA's training camp at Fort Huachuca. "I was in the ROTC program at Arizona wearing that blue uniform to school twice a week; I was actually ordered to Phoenix for a military physical."

Those whose numbers were in the top 190 were routinely drafted into military service.

Kish didn't hesitate when asked if he remembered his long-ago draft number.

"Seventeen,'' he said. "My mom was very worried, but the war was virtually over then, so it didn't become an issue.''

When the Wildcats arrived at this military facility Wednesday, Kish and Baker had a different perspective than the rest of the UA football group.

Kish coached eight seasons at Army (1984-91) under former UA head coach Jim Young and lived on the West Point property. Many of Baker's contemporaries at Arizona and from his high school days in Laramie, Wyo., were engulfed by the military.

Perhaps that is why they were involved in bringing Lt. Col. Greg Gadsden to Tucson last season; Gadsden spoke to the Wildcats before a stirring victory over UCLA.

"I remember Tim talking on the phone to Gadsden, who was then in Walter Reed hospital recovering from his injuries in Iraq,'' Baker says. "When Greg arrived in Tucson and spoke to our guys, it was something that inspired everyone connected to our team.''

Gadsden played linebacker at Army in the mid-1980s — "he's the best linebacker I've ever coached; he would've played in the NFL for many years,'' Kish insists — but was critically injured by a roadside bomb while on duty in Iraq in May 2007.

Both of his legs were amputated at the knee.

When he was wheeled into McKale Center and taken to an auditorium to talk to the Wildcats, Gadsden insisted on lifting himself out of the wheelchair and walking on his two artificial legs.

"Just amazing,'' Baker recollects. "Gadsden was on our sideline during the UCLA game. The players were emotional; the respect for him was off the charts.''

The Wildcats weren't the only football team to absorb Gadsden's motivational words last season. He spoke to the New York Giants a few minutes before Super Bowl XLII in Glendale, perhaps helping to trigger their upset win over the Patriots.

Kish said Gadsden will return to Tucson for a UA game this season.

"I just wanted the kids to hear him,'' said Kish. "It's never about Greg. It's always about working together as a unit. It's about putting your teammates first. His mentality is so admirable. It rubbed off onto our kids.''

Spending 72 hours at Fort Huachuca is a fraction of college football season, but when executed properly, those 72 hours can feel as important as 72 days.

"Being around this type of discipline and leadership definitely helps,'' says UA coach Mike Stoops. The intent of this training camp is to establish better camaraderie and eliminate barriers between natural cliques on a football team.

It is, in some ways, a pre-school mixer. Guards get to know safeties. Tailbacks spend time with linebackers. Stoops believes that learning more about the lifestyle and commitment of a soldier, on their turf, can establish a season-long bond and respect for one another.

It seems certain Stoops will attempt to make this an annual trip.

"I lived on base for eight years at West Point and developed a tremendous feeling of patriotism and an appreciation for what the military does,'' Kish says. "Those kids from my Army days are the ones who stay in touch with me the most, 15 and 20 years later. There was a healthy attitude and respect for their teammates and their coaches. I think we can pick up some of that in our time here.''

The UA's most galvanizing example of military/football success came during the 2000 season. Desert View High School grad Adrian Koch, a walk-on who spent four years as a Marine infantry sergeant in Bosnia, Somalia and Cuba, scored the deciding touchdown against Utah when he recovered a fumble and ran 10 yards for a score in a 17-3 game.

Koch was 5 feet 9 inches and 195 pounds. He played that entire season with a torn ACL in his right knee.

"I'm not going to quit,'' he said that night in Salt Lake City. "This is a dream come true.''

The Wildcats of '08 would do well to play with a mentality like that themselves.