A Moment of Silence, Please
A story this morning that won't get anything like the proper reaction it deserves: Pat Tillman was killed in combat in Afghanistan. This is noteworthy not because of how he died, or where (though it's a good reminder of where the actual "War On Terror" is), but because of how he got there:
Tillman stunned his family, coaches and teammates in 2002 when he walked away from a three-year contract worth $3.6 million. At the time, the move was viewed as a strong example of post-9/11 patriotism. After four seasons with the Cardinals, the aggressive safety -- whose 224 tackles in a single season was a team record -- simply told the organization that he was joining the Army with his brother, Kevin, a former minor league prospect in the Cleveland Indians system. By May 2002, they had both enlisted.
This is a man who felt strongly enough about the events of September 11 that he walked away from a great deal of money and a comfortable life to join the military. He put himself at great personal risk, which ultimately cost him his life.
Tillman's life and death ought to serve as a sobering example for Glenn Reynolds, Andrew Sullivan, James Lileks, Charles Johnson and his little green fatwah, and all the other doughty warriors of the keyboard who have spent the last few years denigrating the patriotism of anyone whose blood lust fell short of their expectations, from comfortable chairs in comfortable houses in comfortable suburbs in the US. This was a man who had a good life, and quietly sacrificed it to go off to the war.
Tillman and his brother refused publicity after making the decision to enlist. They felt it would detract from the families and stories of other soldiers serving overseas, and were so adamant that they admonished immediate family members not to speak with the media. His brother, Spc. Kevin Tillman, joined the same Rangers battalion as Pat. The Tillman brothers deployed several times with the batallion and took part in combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Among other awards, Pat Tillman earned the Purple Heart, according to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command.
Meanwhile the warbloggers screamed and howled and beat their chests as they made the ultimate sacrifice of staying up extra late to write one more blog post explaining how anyone to the left of Limbaugh is a traitor and a poltroon.
The tree-lined street in San Jose, where Tillman grew up, was lined with American flags yesterday. An officer from the Santa Clara County's sheriff's department parked in the driveway of the Tillman family home and politely turned away reporters while friends stopped by to deliver flowers and offer condolences.
"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."
I know next to nothing about Pat Tillman as a person. Everything I've read makes him sound like a good guy, but for all I know, he was mean to small children, or smoked dope, or kicked puppies. But when things were bad, he put his life on the line, without making a big show of things, or demanding special treatment. Meanwhile, the hawkish commentariat screamed and yelled and danced around demanding that other people go out and put their lives on the line, while they nobly defended the country by tapping away at their keyboards. In the end, he (and hundreds of others like him, with less money) lost his life in their war, while they've lost nothing more than sleep. Really, what more do you need to know?
Posted at 1:46 PM | link | follow-ups |