Huddle Up is a weekly Q&A with a Cardinals player on a topic outside of football. In this week's installment, safety Deone Bucannon talks about growing up as the son of two military members.
Question: Did you move a lot growing up?
Answer: Yeah, I moved a lot.
Q: Where were you born, and where did you go from there?
A: I was born in Oakland. From there, I went over and moved to Hawaii. From Hawaii I moved back to California, but I went to Southern California
and stayed in San Diego. I moved all over SoCal. I was in Coronado, Mira Mesa, Tierrasanta, Serra Mesa, I was moving all across. There's a base over in Miramar and a base in Coronado, so I was pretty much all over there.
Q: How often did you move? Every couple of years?
A: It would be like every two or three years. What happened was, I was in SoCal for a long time and my mom went to war. She went to Iraq. So I moved back with my dad over in Northern California, by Sacramento, for a year. That was my first public school. And then when my mom came back I went back to Southern California.
Q: How long was she in Iraq?
A: She was in Iraq for a year.
Q: Do you remember how old you were?
A: I was in sixth or seventh grade.
Q: I'm not sure how dangerous the area was, but could you comprehend she was going to a war zone?
A: It was definitely dangerous. She was in the midst, the middle of it all. It was definitely crazy.
Q: Do you remember what she said before she left?
A: 'I love you' type stuff. Just keep praying and know that God is going to keep her protected. She was good though. She came back.
Q: What was it like when she came home?
A: It was awesome. I loved it. Her coming back and me seeing her, and my whole family, my brothers – man, it was good.
Q: Since you had to move so much, was it hard socially?
A: Yeah, because you've always got to make new friends, you know? After that, you move to a new place and again you don't know anybody. I was kind of that guy. A lot of people in school, they've been there in kindergarten, elementary all at the same time growing up. I was the new kid.
Q: Did you try to be outgoing and make friends, or did moving a lot make you become less social?
A: Less social.
Q: It's hard being the new kid all the time.
A: Exactly. I was quiet. Football was probably the thing which helped me make friends, to be honest. We'd go to recess, or lunchtime, and we'd play football.
Q: And you were good at it.
A: Yep. That's how I made friends, through sports.
Q: With that military background, did you have a strict curfew? Were there things your friends were able to do but you didn't?
A: My parents were always strict in a way, but they were strict to the point where it was good for me, not over the top. For punishment, I did military stuff. Pushups, planks. Those were my punishments, at least from my dad. But other than that, they weren't any stricter than any other parent it would be.
Q: Do you take anything from that background that you use nowadays?
A: From my dad and my mom, just core values. Everyone else has them, but they were reinforced. With my dad it was, don't lie, cheat or steal. He was big on that. If he had one rule, that was his biggest rule. After that, it's easy.
