As 
Butler not only engaged the member of Washington National Guard in conversation, he made sure to thank them for their contributions to defending our country.
“It’s just a show of respect, because obviously we enjoy all of what we enjoy basically because they’re over there doing the real work – fighting for our freedom,” Butler said.
“I just respect so much what they’re doing that whenever you get an opportunity to shake their hands and be around them and say a word to them, I feel like you have to.”
The Seahawks will turn Sunday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens at CenturyLink Field into a football-fueled thank-you celebration. Friday might have been Veteran’s Day, but the Seahawks are turning it into a weekend-long event by holding Military Appreciation Day.
Prior to kickoff, U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Angie Johnson will perform the national anthem; the 12th MAN flag will be raised above the south end zone by George Hickman, one of six known living Tuskegee Airmen and a recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal; and there will be a flyover by a C-17, weather permitting.
The fans also will get into the red-white-and-blue act as part of a 52,500-person card “trick” that will become a huge “thank you” card for military personnel.
And representatives from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Marines and National Guard will have the Seahawks’ “back” along the east sideline during all this pregame activity.
Cornerback
“They do a phenomenal job – a job most of us can’t,” Lewis said. “We appreciate it. And that’s the main thing, we just want them to know that their work doesn’t go unnoticed because they’re doing something most people couldn’t even imagine doing.”
Butler agrees. “To them, it’s just their job, it’s something they signed up to do,” he said. “So they probably don’t think of it as anything special. We’re just playing football, and people look up to us like we’re special.
“But they’re on a totally other level.”
The connection between the military and football is obvious in the lingo of the sport: Quarterbacks throw “bombs”; linebackers “blitz”; linemen do their thing “in the trenches”; then there’s the “ground attack” and the “aerial assault.”
“We always make comparisons between football and war,” Lewis said. “But they really go to war. We’re entertainers. They deal in real-life war. They are the true role models.”
It’s always interesting to watch the soldiers and players interaction because, as Butler and Lewis pointed out, it’s the soldiers are in awe of the players.
“That’s how we should be with them,” Butler said. “Because they’re the real heroes.”
