Search Articles:

 

Breaking News......... MISSOULA MARATHON 2009: Today's the day to pick up race packets!......... Wildfire season off to a cool, wet, slow start in the West......... Help feed the Bitterroot Valley's hungry cats at fundraisers today......... Remains of two "missing" WWII vets transported from Ronan to burial, memorial at Fort Harrison......... Local News......... Schweitzer: ‘Damn right I'm mad' at GM........Three council members file suit against city........Fishing limits dropped on 6 backcountry lakes........Baucus: Health care plan will be produced before end of August........Fighting fire with fire on Blue Mountain: Strategy designed to keep smoke from billowing into Missoula during the summer........Jury acquits ex-Griz Wilson in second murder trial........

SUMMARY: Pat Tillman was an inspiration. So are the other men and women who sacrifice much to serve their country.

Nearly every day now, news streams over our wires conveying the latest combat deaths, mostly Iraq, sometimes in Afghanistan - one here, two there, sometimes more. The reports tend to be terse and matter-of-fact. One death last week, however, commanded far greater attention. Killed was Pat Tillman, a professional football player who gave up a lucrative contract with the National Football League's Arizona Cardinals to join the Army following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Tillman, on patrol with fellow Army Rangers, died a week ago Thursday in an ambush in southeastern Afghanistan. His celebrity status put the news of his death on front pages all over the country.

As ESPN reported when Tillman enlisted, the strong safety's "conscience would not allow him to tackle opposition fullbacks where there is still a bigger enemy that needs to be stopped in its tracks." Tillman's been eulogized aptly as a paragon of patriotism. It's important to remember that the role of warrior is not the only patriotic role available to Americans, but Tillman certainly displayed the kind of selfless commitment that has kept America free for over two centuries now.

His decision to join the military to combat terrorism is notable, but perhaps not as unusual as news accounts surrounding his death made it seem. No, not many men and women forsake

$3.6 million football contracts to volunteer for the military. But in their own way, many others in the military have made sacrifices that, to them, seem just as great and for the same reasons as Tillman's. We fight our wars these days with an all-volunteer, professional military. But the pay and benefits and career opportunities in the military aren't great enough to attract many people with options and opportunities in the civilian world. Pragmatic factors - training, help with college costs, benefits - enter into the equation, but it takes something more to get someone to enlist for war. You have to believe in bigger things and care deeply about your country and countrymen to give up a safe and rewarding civilian career, family and creature comforts to volunteer for dangerous duty.

Tillman's face and celebrity make his sacrifice tangible. He earned the respect his fellow American are paying him. But it's also important to remember that we enlist a whole lot of Pat Tillmans to defend our country, fight our wars and serve our nation's interests in the world's most dangerous places and situations.

---

---

Add your comment now! Write your comment in the form below.
(Email address is for verification only. If you'd like to email a story, look for the link above)

---