Feb. 18, 2003

By Mike Sielski, Allentown Morning Call

In less than a year, Mike Canty could be out there, on bivouac near Baghdad amid the sand and scorching heat, a desert between him and the safety of his country, a thin line between returning home to Dudley, Mass., in his uniform or in a black bag.

Canty knows young men who are there already, young men who were two years ahead of him at the United States Military Academy and are now on their way to Iraq, waiting for the word of war from President Bush. In the here and now, he is a college basketball player, a senior point guard on an Army team wallowing in another sorry season. Army is 5-16 after its 57-43 loss to Lafayette on Wednesday, winless in its nine Patriot League games, without a .500 season in 18 years, and yet none of that futility cools the flame of the furnace, of what a Cadet is duty-bound to confront. In the brave and blessed tradition of the Long Gray Line, Canty is merely waiting his turn, his time to do what he must.

''Facing this situation, we all understand that,'' he said Tuesday over the telephone, one day before a long bus ride from West Point to Easton and back again. ''It's something you have to know when you take this on. War is a very realistic possibility. But this was a decision I made before, when I realized I wanted to be an officer. You may need to lead soldiers in that situation.''

Canty is one of two seniors on Army's men's basketball team; forward Matt Collins is the other. Upon graduating from the academy in May, each will have several weeks of leave before beginning the officers basic course, six months of training in a specific branch of the armed services. At Fort Till, Okla., Canty will train in field artillery - the howitzers and heavy weaponry vital to ground troops.

That is all he knows for certain of his future. Once his time at Fort Till is finished, Canty will be given command of his own platoon - 30-40 soldiers surrendering their trust, their loyalty, their hopes for survival to him - him, 23 years old, with a face that wouldn't get him into a rated-R movie - as they wait for a Middle East campaign that appears increasingly inevitable.

''It's very realistic that I'll finish OBC and be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan,'' Canty said. ''Initially, there is fear. But I'm confident in the decisions our commander-in-chief makes, and I'm ready to carry them out in any situation.''

There was nothing gung-ho in his voice. He spoke with a flat, forceful tone befitting the gravity of the topic, of the thin line he must soon walk. Should he be deployed, he will either be with a firing battery, providing cover for another infantry, or he will be a fire support officer, at the front of the infantry, calling for fire in the teeth of the battle.

''I wouldn't mind being an FSO, being directly involved in the action,'' he said, ''but wherever they need me...'' And it was exactly what you expected a Cadet to say.

So while the rest of us live each day with trepidation,Mike Canty plays basketball and prepares himself for what he might have to do, for what he must do. He took only two shots in 34 minutes Wednesday, scored only two points, acknowledged his frustration as his basketball team lost again. But the games he plays are so small compared to his duty, his fate and what lies between them. So very, very small.