Making a Hero Heroic

Politicians are in a tizzy this week as they attempt to lay the blame for the reason behind why there was an apparent attempt to cover-up the true nature of the death of football player-turned-US Army Ranger, Pat Tillman. You may recall from the news that the former player for the Arizona Cardinals gave up a lucrative career in the National Football League to join the Army in the wake of the September 11th attacks. At the time support for the war was strong as most people were looking to strike back at anyone who was remotely connected with the attacks. When news of Tillman's death in Afghanistan began to come out, it was to the tune that he was killed by insurgents during an attack on his unit. He apparently died in combat while defending his friends.

The papers and media exhorted his patriotism and sacrifice and proclaimed him to be a true hero and in a sense, Tillman truly was a hero. He gave up his career in the NFL to join the Army when he could have easily stayed at home, played a few years of football and then retired to a contented life. Instead he volunteered for the Army and was deployed to Afghanistan. But slowly news started to leak out that perhaps Tillman wasn't killed by insurgents and Al-Queda members but rather accidentally by members of his own unit. Suddenly the story of a hero was tainted by the fact that while he may have been fighting the enemy, he was killed by his own side. That wouldn't be good for support for the war would it?

Accusations are flying now in the Democrat-Majority Congress now and efforts are underway to determine if the truth of the incident was covered up to prevent further flagging interest in the war. As it is support continues to wan and as time goes on, it seems that more and more people are becoming disenfranchised by what has been going on. Democrats blame Republicans and vice versa. It seems that the more things change the more things stay the same. During the last years of the Clinton Administration, the Republican majority members of Congress were up in arms about Clinton's marital infidelities and apparent perjury attempts. At that time the call was for him to be impeached and proceedings took place. In this case, facts remain that false information was spread about the circumstances surrounding the death of Tillman but no one seems willing to do anything about it.

Tillman will remain a hero to those who knew him but also to those who didn't. He is an example of doing something for the good of his countrymen without seeking accolades for it. Tillman probably would have made a bigger name for himself had he gone on to play in the NFL but he served his country and that in and of itself is proof that he's a hero. Had the facts of his death been reported to his family (first and foremost) and then to the public, support for the war would have certainly diminished but is it any different now? Support for the war continues to diminish and the latest estimates proclaim that we can expect to hit $1 trillion in cost for the war.

By fuzzing the facts around how Tillman died, there was no sudden upswing in recruitment. The ire of citizens was not raised to the point that they too felt like Tillman and decided to sign up for service. Even now, the support for the war is flagging to the point that recruitment and enlistment numbers are going down. Why else would as fine an Army as ours need to offer $25,000 bonuses to those recruits who enlist and go off to serve in Iraq or Afghanistan within a month's time? Why else would enlistment standards be changed to allow even those unfit for duty to wear the uniform? Isnt' that a slap in the face of the memory of guys like Pat Tillman? The honor of wearing the uniform of your country is not something that can be taken lightly and by attempting to 'clean up' the picture a little more, the politicians in Washington are likely just making a bigger mess of it.