When a young man dies for his country, for what did he die?
I know little of Pat Tillman. I remember him in college and in the NFL. I remember that he was greatly affected by 9/11 and that shortly thereafter he quit football and joined the army. I remember that he died. I never believed he was any more noble than anyone else who signed up after 9/11 and I never thought him necessarily a hero for having died 'in combat', once again, not any moreso than anyone of the hundreds and thousands of other who have died. The fact that he was gifted athletically never entered my mind as far as my feelings about either his service or his death. I understand that he was and still is being used as a symbol by people, but I am not someone who thinks that way. A kid from my county got killed over there last week and his death is just as tragic and important as was Tillman's, imo.
What really struck me in this film was not Mr. Tillman's life or even necessarily his death, though I must admit that I was quite touched by the circumstances surrounding the way he died. What really got to me were the comments that Pat's brother and brother-Rangers said he had made about his time in Iraq (that this was a f***ed up, ILLEGAL war. That we did not have the right to do what we were doing in Iraq by destroying public property and violating people's rights), and his behaviour in Afghanistan.
So basically, and someone PLEASE correct me if I am wrong, a young idealist gives up a high profile career to 'serve' his country? Is that the right word? Or did he join to 'pay back' terrorists in the Middle East for what they had done on 9/11? Regardless, like most young idealists, he seems to have been discouraged and somewhat jaded by what he found as reality in Iraq and then just played out the string until his unfortunate death in 2004.
So back to my question: everyone knows this stuff by now. Everyone knows that politicians will lie and twist things until they don't even resemble the truth any more. Everyone knows that our war in Afghanistan will continue on being fought by very small patrols of 12-20 men in isolated places with little help and that occasionally we will lose some folks. Yet they still sign up and they still go. Why? Why do they do it? And when they die, what are they sacrificing themselves for? Is this the way it has to be so that I can live freely? So that I have security in my life? That these young guys have to die? When Pat Tillman's mother talked about him giving up his life for his country, what in the heck is she talking about?
I am sorry. I didn't intend to write this much.
Mickey Lake
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