Standing Guard: Reflections of a Minuteman
In the moments leading up to the Patriots Super Bowl XLIX victory parade through Boston, the New England End Zone Militia members prepared as they normally would. They donned their wool trousers. The officers grabbed their muskets. They put on their tricorne hats.
The militia walked the streets of Boston, leading the duck boats, high fiving people in the crowd that gathered to get a glimpse of the Super Bowl champions, and firing their muskets along the way as Patriots fans cheered.
But as the group made its way to a certain part of Boylston Street, the crowd grew quiet. The militia was approaching the Boston Marathon finish line. The officers removed their hats. Those with muskets pointed the muzzles to the ground.
“It’s a prayer under arms,” New England End Zone Militia Captain Geoffrey Campbell explained. “We get up to the finish line, and of course, everybody is screaming. We let loose a round when we’re yards away from the finish line. We get to the finish line, I call for a halt. ‘Go to mourn,’ I said. All of a sudden the screaming just stopped. ‘They’re praying,’ people were saying. That was a chill up the back of the spine moment. It was very, very special.”
The militia members have witnessed and played a role in the Patriots on-field endeavors, but they are so integrated into the fabric of the Patriot fan experience that some of the most memorable moments for the members have happened off of the Gillette Stadium field — like this one. The members of the End Zone Militia may not be on the Patriots roster, but their participation with the organization has created an experience that is uniquely New England for both fans and players.
When the militia began standing in the end zone in 1998, Geoff would beg those in his company to show up to games. Now, nearly 20 years later, the waiting list to serve in the End Zone Militia is dozens of people long.
It’s an unlikely combination — Revolutionary War reenactors and a football team — but it works. They intertwine on and off the field, from Rob Gronkowski’s pregame high fives for each militia member to participating in events like the annual One Mission Kid’s Cancer Buzz-Off at Patriot Place.
From their beginning, the militia helped establish home field advantage; muskets firing overhead as the opposing team runs onto the field is among the more mild tactics.
In 1999, the Week 7 victory against the Denver Broncos at Foxboro Stadium marked the first time New England beat Denver since 1980. Geoff brought a plastic pony to the end zone, and it did not end well for the toy bronco.
“I mounted it on my bayonet on the end of my musket, so at the end of the game I brought the musket up with the bayonet and the pony on it. The other five guys gathered around me and they all pointed their muzzles at the back end of the horse,” Geoff said. “Boom! [The horse] just went flying out on the field, and I went out to the end zone and stabbed it with the bayonet. The whole end zone crowd was going nuts. That was funny.”
Moments like that are not unfamiliar. Players will interact, like when LeGarrette Blount scored a touchdown, ran over, crossed his arms and stood in line with the militia in the end zone. These moments are integral to their history with the team, but it’s the interactions with the fans are that make the job worth it, according to Geoff.
“It’s a lot of fun, especially when people who approach us are fans from the other team or young kids, and they realize we’re people, just like them,” Geoff said. “To Patriots fans, I think we’ve become a part of the landscape in the fact that when they go to a Patriots game they expect to see [people] with muskets firing every time the Patriots score. It has become part of the Gillette Stadium experience, and we stand around when people are coming in and let them come up and take pictures with us all the time. [We] consider it part of our job description.”
In one instance, a fan offered Geoff a beer as a thank you. At a previous game, Geoff had taken a picture with the fan’s brother, who was in a wheelchair, autographed the photo, and sent it to their home. The photo was hanging on the boy’s bedroom wall next to a poster of Tom Brady, even months later, as a snapshot of meeting one of his heroes.
The simple gesture meant a great deal to the boy and his brother, and it was also a surprising moment for Geoff.
“I never expected to have that kind of impact on people ever as a reenactor and as a Patriots fan, as well as being captain of the militia. I never expected anything like that,” he said. “It’s humbling. It really is in some respects. It can be very humbling. Sometimes you can get emotional.”
Whether or not Geoff and his company intended on evoking emotion — with humor and celebration, as well as mourning and humility — they have. And as sure as the New England Patriots take the field on fall and winter Sundays, the New England End Zone Militia will be right there alongside them.
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