R I P Pat Tillman.

[deep]

All untimely deaths are tragedies.


The War in Afghanistan against the Taliban and Al-queda is supported overwhelmingly by Americans.

Most people in other countries understand the reasons for this war.


Pat Tillman chose to walk away from millions of dollars to serve in Afghanistan.


I deeply regret the loss of lives in Iraq. The enlisted men and women are fighting a war that was and is not necessary.


I will not group Tillman in with them. To do so is falling for the lies that Cheney and Bush presented to sell this to the American people.

Ex-NFL player and SJ native Tillman dies in combat in Afghanistan

HE QUIETLY QUIT FOOTBALL CAREER TO JOIN ARMY RANGERS

By Chuck Carroll

Mercury News


Pat Tillman, the former San Jose football star who turned down a $3.6 million contract offer to remain with the NFL's Arizona Cardinals and joined the Army to fight terrorism, has been killed in action in Afghanistan, media reports say.

Tillman and his brother Kevin, graduates of Leland High School, enlisted in 2002 and succeeded in joining the Army Rangers, an elite strike force seen as one of the country's best combat units.

Some Ranger units were taking part in the hunt for al-Qaida and Taliban fighters in southeastern Afghanistan. Military sources confirmed his death there and said there would be a formal announcement later today.

Tillman and his brother joined the Army with all the secrecy worthy of a battle plan. They declined all interviews, as did the family, because the men wanted to serve the country, not to draw attention to themselves.

Tillman, now 27 years old, considered joining the military before airplanes were steered into the World Trace Center towers and the Pentagon, but Sept. 11, 2001, iced it, friends said at the time.

It did not surprise them. He was always a very intense, committed and driven person who seemed to shun the spotlight, friends said.

Tillman, who played safety, spent four seasons with the Arizona Cardinals before enlisting in the Army in May 2002. Before going to the pros, he played for the Arizona State Sun Devils while earning a marketing degree with a 3.84 grade point average in less than four years.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

i think sighting your political beliefs about iraq in a thread about pat tillman's death is in poor taste. let's please just keep this about the life of a great man and not get into a political debate. thank you.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

i think sighting your political beliefs about iraq in a thread about pat tillman's death is in poor taste. let's please just keep this about the life of a great man and not get into a political debate. thank you.

"not grouping him in"..I don't get it or maybe I do

 

[nbcrusader]

turned down a $3.6 million contract offer to remain with the NFL's Arizona Cardinals and joined the Army to fight terrorism

A heroic demonstration of self-sacrifice and service to others.

RIP

 

[deep]

i think sighting your political beliefs about iraq in a thread about pat tillman's death is in poor taste. let's please just keep this about the life of a great man and not get into a political debate. thank you.

Headache,


As I stated I have complete respect for Tillman?s volunteering and ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan.

It is a GREAT loss.



Binladen and the Taliban must be dealt with and taken down.

Most of the world understands and supports that.


After 911 Tillman wanted to go to Afghanistan and take part in that.

It is difficult but easier to accept loss of live in Afganistan.




To mention Tillman in a thread with Iraq War casualties is a blurring of the lines.


Afghanistan and Iraq are very different situations despite Bush/Cheney propaganda.





To group him in with what is happening in Iraq is a disservice to his memory.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

not getting into an argument over it, 'cause that too would be a disservice to tillman's memory.

 

[U2Kitten]

 

[Dreadsox]

Pat did not have to do this.....He had a world of open doors that he could have chosen. Instead he chose to serve his country honorably. I do not think he would want to be recognized differently than any other soldier. They are all men, no matter what opportunities life throws their way.



I put it in war not to make a political statement or to blur lines. I sincerely hope, DEEP, that you would not be throwing digs at me or any other member for having an opinion on this. The loss of servicemen and women is sad enough as it is without turning it into the same old self-righteous I am right you are wrong crap.

 

[Dreadsox]

"He viewed his decision as no more patriotic than that of his less fortunate, less renowned countrymen who loved our country enough to volunteer to defend her in a time of peril," McCain, a Republican, said in a statement.

 

[deep]

Dread,

my pm is not working

email: geostato at go dot com

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

?I am heartbroken today by the news of Pat Tillman?s death. The tragic loss of this extraordinary young man will seem a heavy blow to our nation?s morale, as it is surely a grievous injury to his loved ones. Many American families have suffered the same terrible sacrifice that Pat?s family must now bear, and the patriotism that their loved ones? exemplified is as fine and compelling as Pat?s. But there is in Pat Tillman?s example, in his unexpected choice of duty to his country over the riches and other comforts of celebrity, and in his humility, such an inspiration to all of us to reclaim the essential public-spiritedness of Americans that many of us, in low moments, had worried was no longer our common distinguishing trait.

?When Pat made his choice to leave the NFL and became an Army Ranger, he declined requests for interviews because he viewed his decision as no more patriotic than that of his less fortunate, less renowned countrymen who loved our country enough to volunteer to defend her in a time of peril. It is that first lesson of patriotism that we should reaffirm in our own lives as we celebrate the courageous life and mourn the heroic death of this most honorable American.?

-John McCain

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

"Pat Tillman personified all the best values of his country and the NFL. He was an achiever and leader on many levels who always put his team, his community, and his country ahead of his personal interests. Like other men and women protecting our freedom around the world, Pat made the ultimate sacrifice and gave his life in the service of our country. We are deeply saddened by his loss and, on behalf of everyone in the NFL, we extend our heartfelt sympathy to the Tillman family."
-NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

http://espn.go.com/nfl/s/2003/0415/1539258.html

 

[Diane L]

SportsCenter had a beautiful short film about Pat Tillman and his brother. It made me cry. The world has lost a quality human being.
We'll hear more about Pat Tillman than others who have died in Afghanistan and Iraq because he'd been a pro football player. But all of those who have died have stories, and they are all worthy of attention and tribute. The point was made several times during the film that the Tillmans didn't want any extra attention, because they didn't think they were any more important than anyone else.
Tillman had two brothers, and they showed pictures of them, three beautiful little blond boys. And one of them grew up to die in combat, thousands of miles away from home.
NO MORE. NO MORE. NO MORE. NO MORE!!!

 

[max d.]

i think sighting your political beliefs about iraq in a thread about pat tillman's death is in poor taste. let's please just keep this about the life of a great man and not get into a political debate. thank you.

 

[deep]

But all of those who have died have stories, and they are all worthy of attention and tribute.

very true

 

[wolfeden]

frightening coincidence that the Doonesbury character B.D., a former football captain and coach as well as veteran of Vietnam and the "first Gulf War", deployed to Iraq with his unit, was grievously injured this week.....

was informed that my buddy has had his tour of duty extended by 120 days (as did the entire 1st AD, the unit he serves with). He was supposed to have come home this month.......

RIP Tillman and every other soldier that's died in this mess, though the Pentagon doesn't want you to see their coffins coming home.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

The NFL needs to step up big time to honor Tillman... name the MVP award after him... heck... rename the Vince Lombardi Trophy the Pat Tillman Trophy. He's that deserving... he didn't want any notority in life, he deserves as much as we can give him in death.

 

[Screaming Flower]

please let's keep the politics out of this. pat tillman deserves better.



A true American hero

by Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports
April 23, 2004

It is not how Pat Tillman died that makes him about as great of an American hero as we can possibly know.

It is how he lived.

It is not what he gave up, but how and why he gave it up. It's the fact that all those sports phrases that we casually throw around ? like sacrifice and commitment and courage ? actually meant something to him.

It is how an NFL player, living the American dream, chose not what his country could do for him, but what he could do for his country.

So not long after Sept. 11, 2001, he walked away from football, away from the money and glory of the NFL and, along with his minor league baseball-playing brother, took his considerable physical gifts to the Army Rangers.

Duty. Honor. Country.

Tillman, 27, was killed in action Thursday in Afghanistan, where coalition forces continue to search for Osama bin Laden.

Tillman is just one of hundreds of brave soldiers from around the globe who have given their lives trying to help make ours safer since Sept. 11. Sadly, there will be more.

Maybe most telling about Tillman is that he, it would seem, would be embarrassed about articles like this, ones that focus on his passing rather than that of Army Spc. Christopher Gelineau, 23, of Portland, Maine, who was killed in an explosion outside Mosul, Iraq, on Tuesday.

Or Marvin Camposiles, 25, of Austell, Ga., Jonathan Hartman, 27, of Jacksonville, Fla., Michael McGlothin, 21, of Milwaukee, Wis., or Robert Henderson II, 33, of Alvaton, Ky. ? among six Army personnel and four Marines killed Saturday in Iraq.

No, Tillman isn't a hero for dying, but for living. For putting his morals where his mouth was and not just enlisting, but doing it in the most humble and honorable way.

When he and his brother arrived at Georgia's Fort Benning to begin their training in July 2002 he "came in like everyone else, on a bus from a processing station," the base's public information officer said then. Tillman promptly turned down hundreds of requests for interviews and went about anonymously being a soldier.

No press. No fanfare. No "look at me" publicity stunts.

His move shocked professional sports, populated by so many of our most able-bodied Americans. Tillman was the only one to enlist from the NFL, which is fine ? there is no shame in not enlisting.

But it is difficult to cheer ever again for a knucklehead like Simeon Rice who went on Jim Rome's radio show and said about Tillman, "He really wasn't that good, not really. He was good enough to play in Arizona, [but] that's just like the XFL."

After Rome stopped him, Rice finally relented. Sort of.

"I think it's very admirable, actually," Rice said. "You've got to give kudos to a guy like that because he did it for his own reasons. Maybe it's the Rambo movies, maybe it's Sylvester Stallone, Rocky, whatever compels him."

Or maybe it was just serving his country. Maybe it was being a part of a cause greater than his own self-interest. Maybe it was trying to help in a seemingly helpless situation.

In actuality, what Tillman did was no different than what thousands of other American men and women have done. The country needs them and they answer the call. He may have been the only one staring at a $3.6 million contract, but that's money.

This, obviously, is something more valuable than that.

Tillman probably would cringe at the outpouring of attention and affection that his death will bring. He didn't get into this for that. But if his death can remind Americans about the sacrifices of our soldiers, rich and poor, famous and faceless, then maybe something positive can come of it.

Our volunteer military has performed brilliantly overseas. They've served with great skill and made great sacrifices.

Not just the NFL millionaire. All of them.

It seems that is all Pat Tillman wanted to be. One part of the Army. Part of the Army of one.

"The quintessential definition of a patriot" is how John McCain, the Arizona senator and former prisoner of war in Vietnam described him.

And he was.

An American hero not for where and when he died, but how and why he lived.





God bless him, and everyone out there.

 

[STING2]

Prior to serving in Afghanistan this year, Tillman had served with his Army Ranger unit in Iraq.

 

[pax]

God's peace on him and his family.

I kind of forgot that there were still troops in Afghanistan. Dumb American.

 

[STING2]

There are over 15,000 US troops currently in Afghanistan, the highest number ever since 9/11.

 

[A_Wanderer]

and before 9/11 I would presume.

 

[Katey]

RIP Pat Tillman ,

He had a realization that he wanted to do something more, he gave up what would be a life of privledge to serve his country and that is humbling..

God Bless him and his family and all the men and women serving everywhere and those who lost there lives..

a thank you just does not seem enough for what they do