Veterans help Atlanta Gladiator players stay prepared with lessons learned during deployment

For more than two decades, David Arnold's life revolved around military service, discipline, and teamwork.

Today, those same values guide him in a very different environment: behind the glass with the Atlanta Gladiators hockey team.

Arnold, an assistant equipment manager for the ECHL team, served 23 years in the U.S. Army, with his final deployment taking him to Syria in 2020.

Now, instead of preparing for military missions, he's helping hockey players prepare for battle on the ice.

While the two worlds may seem vastly different, Arnold says they have more in common than people might think.

"It's crazy how well the military and sports kind of overlap on mentality, because there's days where you just don't feel like you got it, but you still got to go do it," Arnold told CBS News Atlanta.

For Arnold, the transition from military service to civilian life wasn't always easy.

"It's really hard," he said. "You go from the structure, but you go from the people as well: having people that understand you to people who don't understand you."

After spending more than two decades surrounded by fellow service members who shared similar experiences, adjusting to life outside the military meant finding a new sense of structure and belonging.

Hockey helped provide a familiar environment built around teamwork, accountability, and a shared mission.

Arnold's connection to the sport began long before he joined the Gladiators.

Growing up in Columbus, Georgia, he said he became a hockey fan in 1995 while watching the Columbus Cottonmouths. Decades later, that interest has become part of his everyday life.

As an assistant equipment manager, Arnold works behind the glass to help keep the team prepared, while bringing lessons from his military career into the locker room.

"Some of the stuff from the military, like being punctual, being on time, having a standard of excellence, things like that, plays into the sport," Arnold said. "Because just a fraction of a 10th of a second could be the difference of a puck going in the goal or not."

Arnold also sees similarities between the personalities of military service members and the athletes competing in professional hockey.

"I feel like the guys, they're tougher, they play harder," Arnold said. "They're kind of like more blue-collar type guys, and that's my kind of people for sure."

For a man who spent much of his adult life relying on teamwork and discipline, hockey offers another opportunity to put those values into practice.

Arnold is not the only military veteran working behind the scenes for the Atlanta Gladiators.

His fellow assistant equipment manager, Marc Jastremski, also has an extensive military background, having served eight years in the U.S. Air Force and another six years in the U.S. Navy.

Together, the two men bring 37 combined years of military service to the Gladiators' equipment staff.

While their military careers took them down different paths, both have found themselves working toward a common goal: supporting the athletes who take the ice.

Their roles may not come with the spotlight typically reserved for players and coaches, but their contributions are part of the preparation that happens before every game, and this weekend, both men will get a moment of recognition.

The Atlanta Gladiators will recognize Arnold and Jastresmki during the team's Military Appreciation Game on Sunday, Nov. 15.

The recognition comes as communities across the country observe Veterans Day and honor those who have served in the United States Armed Forces.