Pondering: The Campbell situation

The Detroit Lions contract offer to former Army safety Caleb Campbell Thursday brings many questions to light.

I’m efforting to get some of these answered by the Department of Defense and sources.

Will the Department of Defense rubber stamp Campbell’s request for an early release (of about a month or two) after the way they handled the whole revision of the alternative service option policy? Campbell was ordered to report back to the Army on the day the Lions opened training camp in July 2008. Awful timing.

Can Campbell use saved leave time to help in an earlier release?

Are the Lions willing to wait if Campbell has to wait until May to get his official release?

Do the Lions know something that we don’t if they are offering Campbell a contract in the first place?

Remember how Campbell was training with the United States bobsled team chasing an Olympic dream? Was Campbell in the world-class athlete program for 10 months? I’ve heard conflicting stories. Bobsledding falls into the world-class athlete program, I would think. If so, would that count towards serving in his required 24 months of active duty before being granted a release?

Does Air Force grad Chad Hall’s signing with the Eagles Thursday help Campbell in any way? Hall’s final season on the field was 2007, just like Campbell. He could have graduated early.

If you have any questions let me know in the comments section below.