Military service member on leave enjoys Cascadia rivalry

When the Major League Soccer schedule came out in February, few were as excited about it as Rob Logue. 

A Missouri native, Logue is a transplanted Sounders fan who was eagerly awaiting the release of the schedule this year to find out who would be in Seattle when he was scheduled for his October leave from Afghanistan.

It just happened that he would be arriving in Seattle on the same weekend that they would face the Portland Timbers in their final meeting of the 2012 season at CenturyLink Field.

“It was a coincidence.  It just came luck-of-the-draw that Portland was here when I came home,” he smiled in between hugs from his mates from the Emerald City Supporters on Sunday during the Brougham Block Party before the match.  “It was a pretty good decision to hold out this long.”

Logue has been gone for nearly 11 months, but the first thing he wanted to do when he landed at Sea-Tac on Saturday was go to Starfire to watch the Special Olympics teams from Washington and Oregon square off as part of the build-up to the Sounders FC’s match against the Portland Timbers on Sunday.  Only able to follow a few matches live and all others just in a box score while he was active in Afghanistan, he’d been away from home and needed his soccer fix.

Originally, that drive was going to be from Sea-Tac Airport to CenturyLink Field, as Logue’s original flight had him landing in Seattle at 5 pm on Sunday, just one hour before kickoff.

However, a flight delay from Kandahar, Afghanistan, actually helped Logue get to Seattle a full day ahead of schedule.

After the original flight was cancelled, he was moved to a bigger flight, pushing all of the military who were going on leave through to Kuwait.  From there, Logue flew to Germany, then Atlanta, Georgia, on his path back to Seattle.

Along the way, he altered his sleep schedule to get him accustomed to Seattle time because he knew that he would have to hit the ground running.

He was greeted back in Seattle by his ECS brethren before an all-important Cascadia Cup match.

“I don’t think I’ve stopped hugging people since I’ve been home,” he said, continuing to smile at his good fortune.

During the match, he stood with the ECS at the south end of the stadium and supported the Sounders to a 3-0 victory over the Timbers 

A Staff Sergeant and Weapons Squad Leader with the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, Logue serves in a different role when he joins in with his friends in the Emerald City Supporters, mostly in a security role.

However, he will be home for three weeks and plans to catch matches against Real Salt Lake on October 17 and FC Dallas on October 21.  During the Real Salt Lake match, he will even be capoing for the ECS, leading them in song throughout the 90 minutes.

So far, the trip has gotten off to a dream start.

With the smile never leaving his face, Logue said, “Watching Portland at home … it can’t get any better than this.”