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Thursday, May 26, 2005

Not to diss R. Lee Ermey, but I'd like to see this guy become the most recognized military face in the U.S.
Posted by Jill | 1:22 PM

We all know who R. Lee Ermey is. He's the guy who played the drill sergeant in Full Metal Jacket, and despite his best efforts, has been unable to get out from under that character ever since. In recent years, he's decided to embrace, rather than try to beat, his own image, and he's currently heard shilling for some tool company that donates some of its proceeds to help soldiers in Iraq.

Now, that's pretty admirable, but what Paul Rieckhoff has done is even more so, and far too few people even know who he is.

Rieckhoff is a U.S. Army Reservist who won accolades for leading a platoon in one of the most dangerous areas of Baghdad, and later on came home to found Operation Truth, the mission of which is to advocate for better pay, family support, equipment and counseling for current and former soldiers—and to provide a forum for veterans to discuss what went right and wrong, in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Interestingly, a search for Freeper smears against Rieckhoff have come up empty -- that's the kind of cred this guy has.

The parents of Pat Tillman haven't been so lucky:


"Sad to see that they are allying themselves with those who hate their son. I doubt if that is what he would have wanted."

"Sounds like lawyers got them snookered into suing the Army."

"More spoiled baby boomer's who never sacrificed anything for this country that basically handed them everything on a silver platter, then crying about the price of admission.

Much as Nick Berg's father complained"


OK, that's enough of that. It's hilarious how all these people who didn't know Pat Tillman think they know his mind better than the parents who raised him because they saw him play football, or saw stories about him on TV. Like Alex in A Clockwork Orange, they believe that "the colors of the real world only seem real when you viddy them on a screen." They enjoy the ultra-violence too, just as the fictional Alex did.

Plenty of other bloggers have commented on the Tillmans lashing out against the Administration, and I've had nothing significant to add. But no one should miss Paul Rieckhoff's comments on the matter:

Army Ranger and former NFL star Pat Tillman was a hero.

He was a hero not because of how he died, but because of how he lived.

He gave up a world of comfort and safety to pick up a rifle and put his ass on the line in defense of our country.

That is what every one of our troops has done in our all-volunteer military. They have all made a conscious choice to give up the cushy way of life and serve in uniform. They weren't pro-football players, but every single one of them gave up the happy land of air conditioning and MTV for a world of mortars and IEDs.

The circumstances of Tillman's death were questioned from the start. And yesterday's incredible story in the Washington Post revealed that the Army was not truthful with his family. The Army lied to the Tillmans and lied to the American public.

And Pat Tillman's mother, Mary Tillman, rightfully tore into the Army for it:

"The military let him down. The administration let him down. It was a sign of disrespect. The fact that he was the ultimate team player and he watched his own men kill him is absolutely heartbreaking and tragic. The fact that they lied about it afterward is disgusting."

Disgusting and inexcusable. The Tillman family deserves to see some accountabilty. And I hope John McCain (from Tillman's home state of Arizona) jumps all over the Army for this one.

But some good can come of this. That is what a good soldier like Tillman would have wanted.

The fact that Pat Tillman died will force the American public to think a little bit more about the faces behind the numbers of dead in Iraq and Afghanistan.

For most Americans, Pat Tillman is the only person whose name they know that has died. And that is important.

It is also unprecedented.

Because the War on Terror is different from past American wars.

It is different because most of America isn't feeling the impact of this war like the Tillmans are. People don't even see the photos of the coffins coming home. Most people in this country have absolutely no personal tie to this war. A smaller percentage of the overall population is serving in Iraq than at any time in our country's modern history.

Most of you can not say the name of someone from your job, your school, or your block that has died. Most of you have not been asked to sacrifice anything. Most of you don't fear that terrible knock coming at your door. The war is something you watch on TV after coverage of the Michael Jackson trial and the Runaway Bride. For most of you, Iraq is an issue, not an experience.


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