4-23-2004
Pat Tillman

I'd like to express my gratitude to the family of Pat Tillman, the Army Ranger, free spirit and former NFL star killed in action Thursday in Afghanistan. I'd like to offer his family whatever consolation is possible at a time like this, and I'd like to thank him for his service.

Mr. Tillman, a tackling machine in his playing days, once turned down a lucrative free agent contract to remain loyal to the team which gave him his break, the Arizona Cardinals. After the attacks of 9-11, his brother talked about joining the Army to do something about it -- and Mr. Tillman walked away from his lucrative NFL contract to sign up with his brother. Totally old school, totally honorable, and in a word used too often and too easily nowadays, totally heroic.

I may be wrong, but I do not believe Mr. Tillman ever did an interview after signing up. He wasn't some former star, he was yet another patriot trying to prove he could make the cut and become one of the Ranger elite. He succeeded.

Regular readers will know I'm an unbending critic of the occupation of Iraq, and long-term readers will know that I am a militaristic peacenik. I'm not one of the "war is never the answer" types; I value our military so highly I never want to see their lives wasted. Sometimes war is indeed the answer, and it's left to people like Mr. Tillman to fight them.

A time of condolence and vicariously shared grief is no time for politics, but I must say I am angry at this news. I'm angered that there are 120,000 U.S. soldiers in a dead-end sinkhole called Iraq and only 10,000 U.S. soldiers involved in the hunt for mass murderer Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. I cannot help but wonder if 130,000 soldiers had been sent to kill bin Laden three years ago if Pat Tillman would still be alive today, and his family could be basking in pride inside of grieving a loss.

Mr. Tillman was 27 years old.

Here's to hoping the Arizona Cardinals retire his number and hang his uniform in their stadium.

His Army Ranger's uniform, that is.

-30-

Return to The Marshall Occasional home page