Tribute to Tillman

[Guest Guru]

Received this as an email forward. Such a sad but inspiring story. What a great great human being. THIS is a true hero, and should be emulated by young kids everywhere, not these knuckleheads like Terrel Owens, Ray Lewis. etc etc etc.

If ever human cloning was warranted, now would be the time. What a huge loss to the human race.

 

A Great American, And A True Hero

Every now and then, a story that transcends sports is worthy

of passing on in the weekly email. Such is the case with the story

of former Arizona Cardinal and Arizona State Sundevil, Pat Tillman. A

hard nosed NFL safety with a passion for hard work and a willingness to

sacrifice his body, Pat Tillman made the ultimate sacrifice for his

country yesterday in Afghanistan near the Pakistani boarder. Like most

of us, Pat was profoundly impacted by events of 9-11-01. Unlike most

of us, Pat and his brother quit their jobs and joined the US Special

Forces in the wake of 9-11. In Pat's case, he didn't leave just any

ordinary job. He left a multimillion dollar contract laying on the

table and the bright lights of the NFL behind him. He had just

returned from his honeymoon when he enlisted. Only 35% of those who

enlist for the Rangers make it. Pat was not a stranger to demanding

physical tests. He was a 5-11, 200 pound linebacker at ASU where he was

named defensive player of the year in the Pac 10 in 1997. He graduated

with a 3.84 GPA. He was drafted in the 7th round and warmed up for his

first NFL training camp by completing a 70.2 mile triathlon in June. He

led the Cardinals with a franchise record 224 tackles in 2000.

 

He refused all interview requests after his decision to enlist. His

Ranger unit was on patrol as part of Operation Mountain Storm along the

Afghan Pakistan border when they were ambushed and engaged the enemy in

a fire fight. His unit took on small arms and motar fire. Pat was the

only member of the unit Killed. His brother Kevin is in the same

plattoon.

 

Pat Tillman was 27. God bless the Tillman family, thank you

Pat, because of those like you we can live free in the greatest country

on earth. Let us not take it for granted. Let us earn Pat's sacrifice.

In my mind there are a few things we can do to justify our citizenship

in the country Pat died for. We can vote, which is a priviledge won by

the blood of countless fallen patriots. We can work against the forces

of evil that are attempting to bring this country down from within and

without. We can ask ourselves if the decisions we make day in and day

out honor those who've died for our freedom.

 

What a magnificent person. NEVER forget this story, and use Pat's sacrifice as insipiration to be a better person.

[Eric the Red]

People tend to look at the war a couple ways. One is revenge. How dare theyIraq's/Afghans) do this to us??? Or why did they do this to us?? What can be changed? As Chomsky wrote, "Nothing can justifiy the crimes such as those of Sept. 11, but we can think of the United States as an "innocent victim" only if we adopt the convenient path of ignoring the record of its actions and those of its allies, which are, after all, hardly a secret."

 

My point here is not to belittle what he, Tillman or what Guru has done or wrote, but to make a different kind of point. When I heard this, I said what a shame, not what a great "hero". Because my thinking is he never should have had to do that(go off to war). If we wouldn't have such power hungry, wealthy businessmen running this countries administrations we wouldn't be over there in the first place. We have old, arrogant, wealthy generals and politicains sending over young, naive men to a world half way around the globe to fight for, NOT FREEDOM as always seems to be the reason, but for the wealthy and their investments. We have an administration that is filled with people who have connections to interests in the oil, auto, and other huge corporations. These people do not care about our solders or our freedom, but rather themselves and their wallets.

 

People have often said I'm unpatriotic because I do not support our troops, which is absurd. I am, PLEASE SEND THEM HOME. That's called support. In fact the Bush administration has cut yet again, of all things, VETERAN BENEFITS. Who's to take care of these men when they come back home?? When they are missing a leg and half of their arm. My father has had his benefits cut again from an injury that occurred in Vietnam. We have killed enough , now we must let the Iraq's put together a Constitution on there own. These people don't want us there. It's eerily similar to the Vietnam War. When our country first had its early beginnings, there were revolutions all the time!!!!

 

Look at at this way, the United States spend $400 billion a year on the U.S. military. That's more than the next 15 countries combined. With all that money and military might we still couldn't stop 9/11. But why did 9/11 occur?? Maybe its because the U.S. has a miltary base in every country, a port in every body of water and an embassy in ever major city. We are pissing a lot of people off. If we don't change and get a new administartion in soon our future is in serious danger. This is not a Republican/Democrat thing either, because the Dems. aren't much better. If I had my way I would vote for Nadar, but look what that got us. But they(Dems) are a slight step up from the Rep. Our grandchildren will have to pay the consequences for the current actions of this nations leaders if something isn't done quickly. If not, as with Europe and WWI and WWII led to there down fall, 9/11 will be view as U.S. downfall in the books our grandchildren and their children read.

 

 

Sorry for the extreme rant, which has nothing to do with football, but important none the less.

[Blackshirt]

Interesting topic. Thanks to both Guru and Eric for sharing their views. Personally I tend to agree that Tillman and many other young americans deaths are more of a "shame" than necessary "sacrifices". I dont think guru was suggesting that it wasnt a shame, but overall I agree that the main objectives of war are not keeping our freedom like many politicians like to use for their commercials, rather fund raisers so they can afford to deceive us with more propaganda.

 

It really is a vicious and very sick cycle we are stuck in. Our political system is so corrupt and funded by all the wrong people. To me a good analogy is to compare it to the mafia. Very similar to those businesses and governement offices that are "pinched" by the mob, and strong-armed into bending policy and laws. They have no choice - they have painted themselves into a life or death corner, and now the mob manipulates every move they make.

 

The thing that many are deceived by is that one person or admin doesnt run this country. Big business runs this country. Therefore, it really doesnt matter what president is in the House (sad to admit) - outside of people like Nader, Perot etc., who will never even come close b/c our government is not designed to enable these types - b/c they are the anti-system. And guess what, this of course is all fostered by one thing -capitalism. Which is going nowhere fast.

 

Regardless, God Bless Pat Tillman & his family, and all the other troops and their families.

[Redout]

Couldn't have been said any better. Unfortunately, voting for Nadar this year would only gives us our own "Evil Empire" back. That's right "the Bush." For some reason as soon as Americans here the word Jesus Christ or damn them homosexuals everyone jobs on "the Bush bandwagon." Nobody looks at the other issues. These are easy topics for Americans to understand, they don't need to research anything. Your either for it or your not. The thing that pisses me off is Bush uses religion to make decisions. (Isn't that what the terrorist did?) There is suppose to be a separation of Church and State.

 

Just to let you know that the other candidates all go to church, they just don't carry the Bible around and use it in there campaign constantly and fight the others with it like it were a sword. Why does Bush do it? Because this is all he's got left. He is such a poor president. Many Historians are calling him one of the most dangerous Presidents ever.

 

Well not that any of this is going to help the Huskers. I don't know maybe it will.