Ex-NFL player Tillman killed in Iraq

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

Well said, AE.  Very well said.

[dpierce]

My problem with this douche-bag is the condescending, faux-compassion, he treats the military with. Only poor people and Rambos could possibly join a volunteer military. When I was 18, I saw things were pretty good for my family (and nation) and wasn't naive to think it was the result of luck.  Some realize it takes personal sacrifice to ensure freedom and properity for the next generation(s).  It wasn't the only reason I joined, but it was certainly a strong reason.

This douche-bag doesn't have a clue about what it takes to make a nation great, as most douche-bags don't.  To them, sacrifice means participating in a campus "die-in" and ladelling soup once a year at a soup kitchen.  They rarely regard the military in everyday conversations and thoughts, but leap to exploit the military when it fits the moment.

Rene is a product of modern America's freedom.  He can be a complete ass because he knows more responsible people are taking care of the important things and ensuring prosperity and freedom for America, including douche-bags.  He is never asked for personal sacrifice and wastes more than most people around the world have.  But it's okay, because people like Tillman are willing to look at a serious situation, weigh the consequences, and decide the burden will be carried for those that cannot or will not carry it.

Eff this douche-bag.

I didn't grow up in the lap of luxury, but, knowing of the struggles of  my forebears, I took full advantage of the things that they couldn't. The right to vote, the freedom to go to school wherever I chose, the right to work wherever I'm eligible, and, as silly at may sound, the right to try on clothes at various stores are things I take seriously. Not because I do all of these things frequently, but because they were unavailable to my parents and anyone else who looked like me. When I hear stories of the not-too-distant past from older people, it makes me thankful that I live in the times which I do. Again, I think that there's a price to be paid for these things which we all take for granted. I chose to enlist in the military. It turned out to be the best choice of my life.

Some people see the military as something people join because they don't have an alternative, like a flop-house for people who are down on their luck.  They don't see that patriotism not only involves the ability to question authority at times, but it also involves giving something of yourself in order to make this country a better and safer place in which to live. If one wants to do so by working in a soup kitchen (regularly, not just a few times a year), becoming a doctor or teacher, or serve in the military is up to the individual, in my opinion. The writer of the first article doesn't get that point. He doesn't seem to understand that there are people in this world who are principled enough to serve in the military without some exterior motive.

On another note...AE, for some reason, your post reminds me of the rant by Jack Nicholson in "A Few Good Men."  

It's apt in this case.

[Wingspan]

UMASS president answers...

[Butchers Bill]

UMass president Jack Wilson issued a statement saying Rene Gonzalez' comments in The Daily Collegian "are a disgusting, arrogant and intellectually immature attack on a human being who died in service to his country."

Well put.

[Drunkmasterflex]

I agree with NGM you hold the right to say as you please, but that doesn't mean you need to, it is poor taste.  I would love for this jerk to say this in front of a military man, but we all know that wouldn't happen he has the luxury of hiding behind his pen and paper.  I would imagine this piece of shtein comes from the same cloth as the people who spit on father and fellow servicemen coming home from Vietnam.  They all have one thing in common they are all cowards.

[Drunkmasterflex]

Here is a nice link about Tillman

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=1792419

[GoinLong]

A local story about an National Guardsman killed in an explosion in Bagdahd. I just hope that this poor mother's grief is eased someday in knowing that her son's death helped to keep us a free nation.

Posted on Thu, Apr. 29, 2004
 
Mother loses son to war she opposes

She blames the U.S. government for the deaths in Iraq.

By Natalie Pompilio

Inquirer Staff Writer


She didn't want him to go. What mother would?

But Sherwood Baker, a sergeant in the National Guard, was an honorable man, and Celeste Zappala, a longtime Philadelphia peace activist, respected that.

When the call to Iraq came, she let him go.

Now he's gone forever.

Baker, 30, was killed Monday when a suspected chemical warehouse exploded in Baghdad. He left behind a wife, a son, his parents, two brothers and countless friends. He was an Eagles fan, a rap music aficionado, and a technology fiend.

Yesterday, state flags in Luzerne and Lackawanna Counties were flown at half-staff in Baker's honor.

At her Mount Airy home - where a sign in a window reads "Peace is patriotic" - Zappala talked about "Sher" with love, and she talked about the war with anger.

"Hundreds of parents around the country are going through this. They love their kids just like I love my kids. There has to be a better way," she said through tears. "I'm angry at the U.S. government. I'm angry at the people who got us into this war... . How do we get to peace in this world when we're making enemies faster than we can kill them?"

Monday, she remembered, began as a good day. She had talked with her son on Saturday, and he had sounded well. He had shipped off in March, and after weeks of being so upset, she had managed to concentrate at her job as executive director of the Mayor's Commission on Aging. She got home about 6 p.m., sat in her car and listened to the news. Iraq, it seemed, had been fairly quiet.

She was in the kitchen, washing mushrooms for her dinner salad, when the dog started barking. It was raining, the porch light was off, and she thought the man outside was a salesman.

Then she saw the Army uniform. The medals.

And she knew.

"I was laying against the door, and I started to scream and scream," she said. "I could hear myself screaming. I couldn't believe it would happen so fast. He just got there."

Baker was 13 months old when the Zappalas - Celeste and husband Al, now divorced - took him in as foster parents on Veterans Day, 1974. He was their first child.

"We just fell in love with him," she said. "We were incredibly happy he was with us."

He was soon joined by two brothers the couple had: Dante, now 28, and Raphael, 25. They were simply brothers, no "foster" involved, Raphael Zappala said.

The Zappalas had stood up for civil rights and stood against the Vietnam War, and they continued their activism while raising their sons. Dante Zappala remembered the Christmas season when the brothers were armed with stickers that read "Warning: This toy is dangerous to your child's health" and were set loose inside stores to affix them on "war toys," such as plastic pistols.

"I was a kid, and I wanted a G.I. Joe," he said, laughing. "My buddy down the street had one, so I played with his."

Still, the Zappalas say they did not force their views.

"We just did what we did. They watched what we did. But we never told them there was one way of thinking, one way of doing things," Al Zappala said.

Baker grew to 6-foot-4 and 240 pounds, but he was gentle, Dante Zappala said. He now sees that same trait in Baker's 9-year-old son, J.D., a football player who doesn't really like to make tackles.

"He's a big kid, but he's afraid to hurt people," he said. "That's the way Sherwood raised him."

•

Sherwood Baker graduated from Roman Catholic High School. After getting his bachelor's degree from King's College in Wilkes-Barre, he stayed in the area, settling in nearby Plymouth with his wife, Debbie. He was a popular local disc jockey, spinning at weddings, and worked with the mentally handicapped.

He joined the Army National Guard in 1997 to pay back his student loans and to help his small community, where many of his friends were already guardsmen, his family said.

"I don't think this is how anybody thought this would end, when somebody joins the National Guard in Wilkes-Barre," Dante Zappala said.

The order to go to Iraq was a surprise, but Baker was ready. He went to Fort Dix for training, let his hair be shorn. Last month, before he shipped out, he assured his mother he would be fine. After all, he said, his unit - First Battalion, 109th Field Artillery - had not lost a soldier since 1945.

"I really banked on that," she said.

[AE]

Kid issues an apology.

[General_Failure]

Reader to kid: Bite my shiny metal ass.

[Diomedes]

According to this CNN article, Pentagon says Tillman was likely killed by friendly fire.

[mussa]

jesus  

[Diomedes]

heros killing heros

[AE]

If only you joined.

[General_Failure]

NY Times article. Points out something I didn't see in the CNN article.

You have to sign up to read it, but going through google news I didn't have to.

Former N.F.L. Player's Death Was Likely From Allied Fire
By WARREN E. LEARY

Published: May 30, 2004


WASHINGTON, May 29 — Patrick Tillman, the former football star turned Army Ranger who died in Afghanistan last month, was probably killed by allied fire while leading his unit in combat, the Army said on Saturday.

Corporal Tillman, who died on April 22, "probably died as a result of friendly fire while his unit was engaged in combat with enemy forces," the Army said in a statement. An investigation made no specific finding of fault in the incident, the statement said.

Lt. Gen. Philip R. Kensinger Jr., head of the Army Special Operations Command, read a statement summarizing an investigation into Corporal Tillman's death at a brief news conference at the command's headquarters at Fort Bragg, N.C.

General Kensinger, who did not take questions, said the manner of Corporal Tillman's death did not diminish the bravery and sacrifice of someone who responded to enemy fire "without regard to his own safety."

The allied-fire account of Corporal Tillman's death was first reported on Saturday by The Arizona Republic and The Argus of Fremont, Calif..

Corporal Tillman, who gave up a lucrative National Football League contract with the Arizona Cardinals to join the Army, is one of the highest profile soldiers to die during the war on terrorism. He served in Iraq during his first tour of duty, and was sent to Afghanistan for a second tour.

The athlete, who joined the Army in June 2002, was posthumously promoted from specialist to corporal and awarded a Purple Heart and the Silver Star for valor because of his actions.

At the time of his death, the Army said Corporal Tillman and an Afghan soldier had been killed, and two other Americans had been wounded, when they came under attack southwest of their base in the town of Khost, near the Pakistan border. The Army said that his platoon had not initially been in danger, but that Corporal Tillman had led his unit up a hill and directed their fire to support another unit that had been ambushed.

Near the top of the hill, he was shot while firing his rifle, the service said.

An unclassified summary of the Army's investigation into the incident, also released on Saturday, said the platoon had been moving to another sector when one of its vehicles broke down and could not be repaired in the field. On April 22, the platoon was split, with one section towing the incapacitated vehicle and the other moving to the next operations area, in a different direction.

A half-hour later, the report said, the tow unit came under attack and Corporal Tillman's portion of the platoon came back to help. During the resulting clash, it continued, a Ranger squad leader mistakenly identified an Afghan soldier ally as part of the enemy force and fired at him. Other members of the platoon, seeing the squad leader's direction of fire, shot in the same direction, killing Corporal Tillman and the Afghan soldier, the report said.

[Diomedes]

If only you joined.

If only you didn't.