"If you asked me five or six years ago if I would ever play defense, I probably would have laughed in your face." That's Staff Sergeant Matthew Vasquez, now an outside back on the All-Army Men's Soccer Team, a man who spent decades as a winger and still made the positional switch work. That kind of adaptability is exactly why he's on the roster.
Vasquez, 29, of the 6th Battalion, 56th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, has been playing soccer since he was two or three years old. He went through college at Louisiana State University Alexandria, then overseas — Guatemala, the Netherlands — before the Army, and eventually the All-Army program. This is his third year in the setup. He didn't stumble into it; two different coaches across two different postings told him to apply until he finally did.
Morning, midday, evening — every day
The training load during camp is not subtle. Three sessions daily, Monday through Sunday, no exceptions. Vasquez rattles off his recovery routine like a professional athlete: massage, cupping, cryotherapy, yoga, stretching, swimming, gym. "Those three sessions a day, Monday through Sunday, really get your body exhausted," he said.
His teammate and fellow 1st Cav representative, Specialist Heriberto Hernandez, 32, is the goalkeeper. He's been around long enough to know the window for competing at this level is finite. "We don't have much recovery time, but in a way it's good," Hernandez said. "It helps us build our stamina." At 32, he doesn't have the luxury of saying that without meaning it.
Vasquez is honest about what competing at this level costs him physically. He's training alongside players who are 19, early 20s, in the sharpest condition of their lives. "I have to do a little more recovery to still be able to keep up with these young guys," he said. The age gap is real, and he's not pretending otherwise.
Last year, the Air Force won it
That's the driving context here. The Army dropped last year's gold medal match to the Air Force, and both Vasquez and Hernandez have made their feelings on a repeat perfectly clear. "We definitely want to bring the gold medal back to the Army," Vasquez said. Hernandez was more direct: "We're definitely gonna do damage and hopefully bring the gold."
Beyond the result, there's something worth noting about what this program actually represents at unit level. Vasquez, who serves as a platoon sergeant, said his soldiers follow his games closely — asking for updates, wanting to come watch. He's actively pushing them toward Army sports programs, whether soccer or otherwise. One of them making this team someday isn't just aspiration; it's a specific goal he's working toward.
Vasquez has six years of service done and just signed up for six more. Before he heads to recruitment training at Fort Knox, he has one item of unfinished business. The gold medal. The Air Force has it. He wants it back.
