A Memorial Day Message from an Iraq Vet
By Ray Kimball
Sat, 28 May 2005 08:25:03 -0500
"We will never know the real human cost of these wars on both sides."
Recent articles in the national press have brought Pat Tillman??s name and memory back into our collective consciousness. The recent revelations make it clear that much of what the American public was told in the days after Tillman??s death was distorted or an outright fabrication. The blame for this distortion has yet to be fixed on a responsible individual, and most likely never will be. All of the news about the cover-up surrounding Pat??s death has a common theme behind it: immediately after his death, the military and the national press came together to make his story everything he didn??t want it to be.
When Tillman, the Arizona State and Arizona Cardinals linebacker, announced in May 2002 that he was giving up professional football to enlist in the United States Army, the decision was greeted with shock and cynicism. Everyone tried to get the story, the interview, to try and figure out what was behind such a seemingly irrational decision.
Tillman responded with silence. He simply went about his business, first completing his training as an infantryman, then serving in the initial invasion of Iraq, then volunteering for Ranger training and serving in the elite 75th Ranger Regiment.
Throughout it all, his family responded to questions about where he was, what he was doing, and how they felt about it. No interviews from Tillman, no live media specials from desolate Army posts, none of the trappings we??ve come to expect from celebrities who step off their pedestals and mingle with the common folk.
Then came the announcement of his death, the heroic stories concocted to match it, and the corresponding media blitz. Tillman??s death was among the leading stories on the day??s nightly newscasts. ??20/20? and ??The O??Reilly Factor? both featured long segments eulogizing the fallen warrior. Local and national newspapers wrote longing obituaries about sacrifice and honor. Again and again, the theme was how much Tillman had sacrificed, and how he didn??t have to do what he did.
To which I say, with all due respect to the dead soldier and his family: so what? What really differentiates Tillman in the end from the more than 1800 other men and women we have lost in Iraq and Afghanistan? Every one of them was a volunteer. Every one of them knew the potential risks when they signed up for service. Every one of them probably would have rather been somewhere else, but they did their duty and lost their lives because of it. Pat Tillman understood this, and embraced it.
As far as sacrifice, the truth is we will never know the real human cost of these wars on both sides. We will never know how many future poets, engineers, artists, and leaders died in the dust of Fallujah and Khandahar. We will never know what kind of contribution these many Iraqis, Afghans, Americans, and others would have made to their respective societies had they lived. And for that, we mourn the dead equally, and bemoan the horrible loss and waste of war.
Memorial Day is coming up fast. For many Americans, Memorial Day is the time for that first trip to the beach. For others, it??s a chance to blow the dust off the grill and enjoy some barbeque and backyard sports.
Some say such frivolity on a holiday remembering America??s war dead is inappropriate. I disagree. The men and women we remember on Memorial Day gave their lives, in part, so that humanity around the world could pursue what Roosevelt called the four freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, freedom from fear.
So on Saturday and Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, enjoy that which has been secured for you at such a great price.
But on Monday, take some time to remember the human cost of our freedoms. Visit a veterans?? cemetery. Attend a VFW or other civic ceremony. Write a service member and thank them for their sacrifice.
All of these are far more fitting tributes to Pat Tillman and the nameless others just like him.
Ray Kimball is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and a blogger for OPERATION TRUTH (www.optruth.org).
