Posted by
America Forever on Tuesday, April 03, 2007 12:24:26 AM
Pat Tillman's Manner of Death
Pat Tillman was a hero who loved his country more than he loved his fortune. Would to God that I had the courage of the man and his selflessness all wrapped up in one! As it is, I can't lay claim to either of these qualities of Pat's.
What puzzles me about the reaction to his death is how it seems to be diminished in the eyes of some. Why should the fact that his death was a result of bullets fired by his fellow American soldiers matter as to how the man lived or died? It takes nothing away from the greatness of the man -- not one iota of a drop in a whole big ocean. It just doesn't!
In war, there are casualties that are not the direct cause of enemy action. The soldier who dies from a vehicular accident must be honored just like the one who loses his life to an improvised explosive device. Surely, we don't draw distinctions between two deaths in battle -- so, why must we draw distinctions between those deaths and accidental deaths or between deaths as a direct result of the enemy and those caused by "friendly" fire?
Yes, we need to investigate deaths caused by friendly fire to make sure that they were not intentional nor the result of gross negligence. We need to make sure that we understand how they happened so that we can search for ways to prevent them from happening in the future. But we must keep in mind that these deaths are to an extent inevitable in any combat action. They have always been a part of warfare and the complete elimination of such deaths is an impossibility.
But, there is no shame in a soldier dying as a result of friendly fire. None at all! It is a shame for the rest of us to draw these types of distinctions based on the manner of the soldier's death.
Pat Tillman's death must be felt by his family like it does none of us others who knew him as a sports figure and a model for our youth. But, we, who knew him so little, can still honor his memory and death by friendly fire does not stain that honor -- no, not at all! Rest in peace, good man!