Lt. Col. Robert Risdon — a deputy commander for the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade at Fort Benning, Georgia — was headed back home Tuesday after a trip to Alabama and stopped in a Taco Bell for a late bite to eat. While eating at the Greenville, Alabama, restaurant, Risdon saw two brothers — 9 and 12 — come inside from the rain.
“They were both soaking wet,” he told WTVM-TV, adding that they weren’t there to eat — they were trying to earn some cash selling homemade desserts. They approached Risdon to see if he was interested. With no cash on hand, he asked the 12-year-old — “a very, very nice boy,” Risdon told the station — if he and his brother had eaten yet that night. The boy said no, so Ridson remedied that.
Jason Gibson — head coach of the Columbus Lions indoor pro football team — was traveling with Risdon from Mobile for Senior Bowl activities and pulled out his cellphone camera when he saw what was unfolding.