Troop of the Week (Cpl. Patrick Tillman)

Troop of the Week

Cpl. Patrick Daniel Tillman

A True Man of Honor

"an American original--virtuous, pure and masculine
like only an American male can be."
--Ann Coulter

Whether you want to believe the liberal bend or the conservative angle… whether he was an anti-war, anti-Bush, Noam Chomsky supporter, or an “alleged,” fictionalized American military hero… Patriotic Thunder has chosen to look past all the controversy and simply honor the man.

Born November 6th, 1976 in San Jose, California to Mary and Patrick as the oldest of three brothers (Kevin and Richard), Pat showed early signs of becoming a unique individual. He was a curious infant who began walking at just eight-and-a-half months. He attended Leland High School in San Jose, California (1990-1994), where his senior year he led his team to the Central Coast Section Division I Football Championship and earned co-Player of the Year honors for the Central Coast Section.

Tillman began his college career as a linebacker for Arizona State University in 1994, when he secured the last remaining scholarship for the team. Tillman excelled as a linebacker at ASU. Despite being considered undersized, he quickly became one of the most dominant players on the field. In 1996, he helped lead the Sun Devils to the 1997 Rose Bowl after an undefeated regular season. Pat's intensity on (and off) the field made him a clear fan favorite. His dominating play at linebacker earned him three selections to the All-Pac-10 Team and the Pac-10 Conference's Defensive Player of the Year Award in 1997. He also excelled academically, he majored in marketing and graduated in three and a half years with a 3.84 GPA.

In the 1998 NFL Draft, Tillman was selected as the 226th pick by the Arizona Cardinals. Tillman moved over to play the safety position in the NFL and started ten of sixteen games in his rookie season.

In May 2002, eight months after the September 11, 2001 attacks and after completing the fifteen remaining games of the 2001 season which followed the attacks (at a salary of $512,000 per year). Tillman turned down a contract offer of $3.6 million over three years from the Cardinalsin order to enlist in the United States Army.

He enlisted, along with his brother Kevin, who gave up the chance of a career in professional baseball. The two brothers completed training for the elite Army Ranger school in late 2002 and were assigned to the second battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment in Fort Lewis, Washington. Both Pat and Kevin were deployed to the Middle East as part of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Tillman was subsequently redeployed to Afghanistan where on April 22, 2004 he was killed in action by friendly fire while on patrol. His unit was attacked in an apparent ambush on a road outside of the village of Sperah about twenty-five miles southwest of Khost, near the Pakistan border. An Afghan militia soldier was killed, and two other Rangers were injured as well. The U.S. Department of Defense concluded that Pat Tillman's death was due to friendly fire aggravated by the intensity of the firefight. His heroic efforts to provide cover for his fellow soldiers as they escaped from the canyon led to his tragic death. He was posthumously promoted from Specialist to Corporal. He also received posthumous Silver Star and Purple Heart medals.

Corp. Pat Tillman was the first professional football player to be killed in combat since the death of Bob Kalsu of the Buffalo Bills, who died in the Vietnam War in 1970. He is survived by his wife Marie.

“I am heartbroken today by the news of Pat Tillman's death,” Arizona Senator John McCain said. “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.” McCain also stated, “While many of us will be blessed to live a longer life, few of us will ever live a better one.”

There’s been a great deal criticism and controversy over the actual events of Tillman’s death, much of which Patriotic Thunder will not address. We don’t have a dog in that fight… we don’t wish to take sides on this issue… we want to concentrate on the man and his actions. The loyalty he showed to his country and to his countrymen.

Although it must be said that allegations of cover-up and conspiracy by the grieving and understandably angry family of Pat Tillman, have fueled the liberal fires and lead to an attempt by the media and American Leftists to discount Tillman as some kind of sucker who gave up all that money just to go and die for nothing.

In a column published on April 28, 2004 in the University of Massachusetts student newspaper, Rene Gonzalez, a graduate student, wrote that it was “"hard to say I have any sympathy for his death” that he made “himself useful to a foreign invading army, and he paid for it” and was a “G.I. Joe guy, who got what was coming to him.”

Many articles and blogs, including some of a very personal nature, were published condemning Gonzalez. ESPN later reported that in an email to a television station, Gonzales apologized to the Tillman family “for all the pain that my article has brought them” and stated that he made his point "in such an insensitive way, that the article was not worth publishing”

A May 3, 2004 editorial cartoon by the Ted Rall and distributed by Universal Press Syndicate, portrayed Tillman as a misled “idiot” who had enlisted to “kill Arabs.”

Disgraceful… to say the least.

Even as he ascended to greatness… he did it selflessly. Pat Tillman exemplified everything good about America… and the debate over his death, the contention over his supposed anti-war ideals, the despicable and uncaring way in which the Peace-At-Any-Cost movement use his story for their own political means… none of this negates the fact that this man gave up fame and fortune in the name of patriotic loyalty and altruistic honor, and he should be remembered as a true American Hero.

Those who cast aspersions upon his character are not worthy of their freedom. The freedom most take for granted… the freedom Pat Tillman died trying to protect.

R.I.P.

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