Washington Post stories on the death of Pat Tillman

[winterbadger]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36390-2004Apr23.html (reporting)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37982-2004Apr23.html (opinion)

and an article on two others just returned from Iraq to rest in Arlington http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37964-2004Apr23.html

I know that some people disagree, but I think the attention that's being paid to Tillman's death is entirely appropriate. He's a nationally known athlete, who gave up a multimilliondollar career because he decided that he needed to serve his country. He and his brother looked for positions appropriate to their abilities, found one of the most dangerous jobs they could take--being a Ranger--and volunteered for it. They never seem to have had any doubt that they did the right thing, and they actively avoided getting any credit or recognition for it because "they felt it would detract from the families and stories of other soldiers serving overseas".

I think that avoidance of praise was laudable, but I think the attention now is warranted. Whether you think the war in Afghanistan is a good thing or a bad thing, it is important (at least to me) to remind people that it's still going on, and that it has a cost. There are people who will not be moved by casualty figures when they are just numbers, but who will begin to apprecaite what they mean when the numbers are transslated into people they know or recognize. Whether you think military services is a good thing or a bad thing, I think it's worth celebrating and noting when someone of prominence and wealth gives that up to do what he or she believes is the right thing to do, what their country needs them to do.

Tillman's family "believes that everyone who has given their lives in the war deserves equal recognition for their sacrifice," Robert Setterlund, the assistant principal at San Jose's Leland High School said. "They don't want one person singled out." I respect that, but I also believe that Pat Tillman's choice is an example to others that deserves to be praised, and I think that can be done without valuing any less the sacrifice made by the others in the current wars who have died, or been wounded, or simply served and done their duty under difficult, unpleasant, and often hazardous circumstances.

Comments

[ladyjillian.livejournal.com]

Weird--I (and my siblings) went to that high school. Setterlund was a math teacher there, I think.

[rigelkitty.livejournal.com]

He didn't give up his career. He planned to return to the NFL in 2005 and pick up that multi-million dollar salary again. He also already had 4 years of NFL salary under his belt and seven years of college football salary. He didn't give up anything he didn't already have.

[winterbadger]

He's dead. I don't understand what vendetta you have against him, but it demeans you, not him, that you feel this need to run him down.

[rigelkitty.livejournal.com]

I'm not running him down, I'm trying to wipe the media celebrity-induced stars from your eyes. Tillman's story was above the fold on the front page of the Washington Post. Two other soldiers were killed and their story was below the fold on the Metro section of the Post. They are no less than Tillman just because they didn't play in the NFL. I'm not attacking Tillman, I'm attacking the media's diminishing of all the other soldiers by spotlighting a sports celebrity over anyone else.

I'm not the only one who feels this way:

Other families deserve honor, too (http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/0425sunlets252.html)

Widen the focus on those who sacrifice (http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/0424satlet2-2417.html)

Even Tillman's family agrees with me:
"The family believes that everyone who has given their lives in the war deserves equal recognition for their sacrifice," Robert Setterlund, the assistant principal at San Jose's Leland High School said. "They don't want one person singled out." (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36390-2004Apr23_2.html)

By saying that my attempts to bring Tillman back down to the level of the sacrifice of the 700+ other soldiers killed in Iraq demeans me, does it also demean his family to say the same thing?

[winterbadger]

On top of which, I see you didn't eve read the articles.

What Tillman's friends did learn was that Tillman no longer considered himself a football player. He was thinking seriously of reenlisting and of making the military his career. He aspired to be an officer. He wanted, he said, to lead Rangers.

[rigelkitty.livejournal.com]

Yeah yeah yeah, neither did you.

He told his pals he intended to return to football after his tour of duty. (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4825949/)

McGinnis said Pat Tillman planned to resume his NFL career once his three-year stint with the Rangers was over. (http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,595058425,00.html)

[tigereyes20151.livejournal.com]

I have always had mixed emotions as to weather or not we should have ever gotten involved with the whole thing. Yet, that having been said for some strange reason the way the soldiers were treated after Vietnam has always rubbed me the wrong way. I personally didn't lose anyone over there, but somehow it really made me embarrassed of the U.S.A. that we could make it a mandatory draft then kick dirt in the face of the returning soldiers who were lucky enough to make it back alive. That is why even though I don't follow all the media circus about what is still going on now I am proud of the men and women who have left their lives (regardless of what they did or what they made) and their families to go and do what their country was asking of them. If a car salesman went over there and fought and made it back in all probability he would go back to being a car salesman, why not a high earning sports figure? As a result of my feelings on this matter I have gone to the website WWW.anysoldier.com and left a couple of letters for the soldiers to read. In the wake of that whole Anthrax scare we had they don't do the mass letter writing campaigns that were so well received in previous military operations. This is a website where you can write a letter that any soldier can read to let them know that even with the bad there is good. And above all, that we appreciate the sacrifices they are making for us. Sorry if anybody feels that sounds kind of preachy but it bothers me when people just can't get down off their high horse long enough to say thank-you for caring about the U.S.A. I don't know about you but I like being free.