Click to read anArticle written by Kevin Tillman, Pat's brother and veteran as well.
Do you remember Pat Tillman? Pat Tillman thought he was doing the right thing, the patriotic thing, when he gave up his professional football career with the Arizona Cardinals to enlist (that’s right enlist) with his brother in the United States Army to be Rangers. It was a true American story of the spirit that made America great. A promising safety in the NFL turned down a $3.6 million dollar - three year contract to enlist in the U.S. Army. Enlist! Think about it. A millionaire consciously decided to take a pay cut, a lifetime opportunity kind of pay cut, to a poverty level to be enlisted in the Army. Check out how much lower enlisted receives for base pay (ok so Tillman would rake in an additional $110 a month jump pay, woo wee).
Pat’s brother gave up a similar future in baseball for the same reason. They did it together. They both carried out their goal, doing what some of us have done, completing basic training, AIT, Jump School, Ranger Indoctrination and eventually Ranger School all in order to accomplish being all they could be.
What’s wrong with this story? After he and his brother served with second battalion 75th Ranger Regiment in the invasion of Iraq, Pat was killed in action after redeployment to Afghanistan. If you remember Pat was killed, supposedly in a firefight with enemy combatants. Then it came out that there were no enemy involved. Pat was killed by friendly fire. The family was immediately informed of the death of Pat Tillman but not that it was by friendly fire. His brother, in the same unit but not at the location at the time of Pat’s death, wasn’t even informed that it was friendly fire for over a month. Since it all started the family of Pat Tillman has had a horrible time getting answers (click to read all about it.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Tillman
Monday, May 30, 2011
Remember Pat Tillman
Happy Memorial Day, patriots
I am thankful for those who have sacrificed for our liberties today, both the living and the dead. I will wear my KIA bracelet all day bearing the name of Ranger PFC Roy Brown Jr. who was killed on 20 Dec 1989 during Op. “Just Cause” in Panama. I also helped carry Spc. Manriquelozano (Manrique) of D company 2/504 to a medi-vac helicopter who later died during that invasion. I pray for their loved ones today. I have no doubt these men believed they were doing what was right by their country. But I also want to remember true liberty itself today because it has been a casualty of our wars since at least World War II. I could write volumes myself on this but these two articles cover “patriotism” very well:
“Mindless patriotism is a destructive force. It is the sworn enemy of biblical Christianity” - Steve Wilkins.
“Christian Patriotism” - chalcedon.edu
“The Danger of False Patriotism” - Steve Wilkins
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day
Tuesday, May 03, 2011
The Bogeyman is gone… or is he?
Believers: I understand the desire to rejoice at the death of a bad guy and in this case a bad guy that we Americans have been strongly encouraged to hate… a lot. But the satisfaction many are getting from this is based on fear, not truth or love. I’m reluctant to get into all of the problems with the timing of the announcement of Osama Bin Laden’s death or even the history of him as it relates to our country or the fact that, although he was the FBI’s most wanted terrorist at one time, he was never officially wanted by the FBI for 9- 11 because they had “no hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9- 11” those are the words of the FBI. 9- 11 was not even listed on his FBI wanted webpage. I won’t get into the protected charter flight of Bin Laden family members out of the US while all other commercial aircraft were grounded the days after 9- 11 or any of the other anomalies that are Osama Bin Laden. I’ll just say that the news of Osama Bin Laden’s death does not hurt the Administration’s (and the war’s) approval ratings, especially with neo-conservatives… I suspect the mass’ support for ongoing war and restrictions at home are being rejuvenated…
…One of the issues I have with the whole thing: The president indicated he learned of Bin Laden’s location LAST YEAR yet he waited (nine months) until confirming the intel to “take action”, yet I can remember on many occasions during this almost 10 years of “war on terror” when we have bombed or attacked entire weddings, funerals, houses and shacks, killing hundreds, if not thousands of innocents (including women and children) in several countries, in order to get ONE bad guy lower down on the “score card” or the Iraqi “deck of playing cards” or not even a top tier enemy combatant.. And many times with much less intel that was hastily vetted, often immediately… sometimes to learn it was the wrong location or the wrong guy. Oh well, that’s war, right? Collateral damage? This has become open military policy. Do We the People really approve of that? I’ve been in war, so please don’t give me the typical tunnel vision of” love of country” or “doing my duty” whoopla. And before it’s brought up, I know firsthand that the troops are often put in a spot because we are fighting to survive and we are trained to not question orders. But our military oaths place defense of the constitution (summarize “truth”) from enemies “foreign and domestic” and allegiance to it above following orders, even up to the president himself. We vets need to go back and read the oath we swore again, in the order it was proclaimed before God himself, and understand what we swore to…
…But while our focus is on the feeding frenzy that is now supposed to be a corpse at the bottom of the ocean, our government continues to hurl us deeper into debt to foreign banks (to the tune of trillions) and deeper into an Orwellian controlled society in the name of security and safety. A society that is becoming increasingly intolerant of only the religion of Christianity, of doing what is right and even of spreading of the Gospel truth. This is what we will leave our children if the Lord tarries, and he just might. Will they be able to end this “war” with the “impressive” intel they have captured from UBL’s computers? Will we now relax the Patriot Acts that were supposed to sunset, that have about as much to do with patriotism and security as the communist manifesto but that keep being re-authorized? We are already being told that retaliation is likely to come to America from the death of UBL. If that is the case, I want my money back for the last ten years because the War on Terror has been an obvious failure. Get ready for more control here at home, more hassles when you try to fly somewhere. And Pakistan better brace themselves, they could be next in the parade of Middle Eastern “democracies” to be built by us and paid for by our future generations. Let’s begin to pray, the whole church, to pray for revival to begin in the church and then spread like the fire of liberty; Real revival where sinners like us repent and God heals the hearts and then our land. …Revival where absolute truth once again matters. …Revival where we rejoice over truth and Jesus our king more than the announcement of the hasty killing and disposal of a mere mortal bad guy. If this happens, I believe there is hope for America; otherwise we will continue to live in a society of fear because there is always going to be another bogeyman.
…One of the issues I have with the whole thing: The president indicated he learned of Bin Laden’s location LAST YEAR yet he waited (nine months) until confirming the intel to “take action”, yet I can remember on many occasions during this almost 10 years of “war on terror” when we have bombed or attacked entire weddings, funerals, houses and shacks, killing hundreds, if not thousands of innocents (including women and children) in several countries, in order to get ONE bad guy lower down on the “score card” or the Iraqi “deck of playing cards” or not even a top tier enemy combatant.. And many times with much less intel that was hastily vetted, often immediately… sometimes to learn it was the wrong location or the wrong guy. Oh well, that’s war, right? Collateral damage? This has become open military policy. Do We the People really approve of that? I’ve been in war, so please don’t give me the typical tunnel vision of” love of country” or “doing my duty” whoopla. And before it’s brought up, I know firsthand that the troops are often put in a spot because we are fighting to survive and we are trained to not question orders. But our military oaths place defense of the constitution (summarize “truth”) from enemies “foreign and domestic” and allegiance to it above following orders, even up to the president himself. We vets need to go back and read the oath we swore again, in the order it was proclaimed before God himself, and understand what we swore to…
…But while our focus is on the feeding frenzy that is now supposed to be a corpse at the bottom of the ocean, our government continues to hurl us deeper into debt to foreign banks (to the tune of trillions) and deeper into an Orwellian controlled society in the name of security and safety. A society that is becoming increasingly intolerant of only the religion of Christianity, of doing what is right and even of spreading of the Gospel truth. This is what we will leave our children if the Lord tarries, and he just might. Will they be able to end this “war” with the “impressive” intel they have captured from UBL’s computers? Will we now relax the Patriot Acts that were supposed to sunset, that have about as much to do with patriotism and security as the communist manifesto but that keep being re-authorized? We are already being told that retaliation is likely to come to America from the death of UBL. If that is the case, I want my money back for the last ten years because the War on Terror has been an obvious failure. Get ready for more control here at home, more hassles when you try to fly somewhere. And Pakistan better brace themselves, they could be next in the parade of Middle Eastern “democracies” to be built by us and paid for by our future generations. Let’s begin to pray, the whole church, to pray for revival to begin in the church and then spread like the fire of liberty; Real revival where sinners like us repent and God heals the hearts and then our land. …Revival where absolute truth once again matters. …Revival where we rejoice over truth and Jesus our king more than the announcement of the hasty killing and disposal of a mere mortal bad guy. If this happens, I believe there is hope for America; otherwise we will continue to live in a society of fear because there is always going to be another bogeyman.
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