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Former Iraq Vet, App State Player Brian Stokes To Appear on CBS Sports ‘We Need To Talk’ on Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET

Nov. 11, 2014. Appalachian State football alum Brian Stokes will appear on CBS Sports Network’s “We Need To Talk” on Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET.

Stokes with his Purple Heart.
Stokes with his Purple Heart.

Stokes played tight end and was a special-teams ace on Appalachian’s 2005 and 2006 NCAA Division I FCS national-championship teams, making eight special-teams tackles in 29 career games. He arrived at Appalachian State in 2005 as a 26-year-old freshman after a five-year career in the United States Marine Corps, which encompassed deployments to over 10 countries, including two tours of duty in Iraq.

During Stokes’ second tour in Iraq in 2004, he served in over 200 combat missions, including the invasion of Fullujah. A sergeant in the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines, Stokes was the commanding officer in a humvee near Lutayfiah in August 2004 when his convoy was the target of two 200-kilogram roadside bombs, which blew the 300-pound doors off Stokes’ humvee when detonated within yards of the armored vehicle. Everyone in the vehicle survived, but Stokes suffered shrapnel wounds in his right arm and lost the majority of hearing in his right ear. While attending Appalachian State, he was awarded a Purple Heart for the injuries that he sustained in the attack.

Stokes will talk about his military, football and post-college careers as a guest on the Veterans Day edition of “We Need To Talk,”  which is co-hosted by CBS’s Tracy Wolfson, Dana Jacobson, Lesley Visser, Amy Trask and Allie LaForce. CBS Sports Network is available on most cable systems, including DirecTV and Dish Network. Check local listings for availability.