[kcvl]

Pat Tillman placed more emphasis on the whole of his country than on himself.

Tillman is the epitome of a hero

By Gregg Easterbrook
Special to NFL.com

I looked up some newspaper accounts of the Khowst area where Tillman died. One dispatch called it "a dusty town set on a rocky plain ringed by baked and blasted mountains." The mountain border area of Afghanistan and Pakistan does seem "baked and blasted" -- I've been there -- but the magnificence of creation is also palpable in that part of the world where impressive mountains stretch as far as the eye can see, and the night skies, clear and unspoiled by city lights, seems to reveal the entire universe. Pat Tillman sacrificed a glamorous, highly paid lifestyle to journey to a remote place and fight for the ideal of freedom. The sky of Afghanistan may have been the last thing he ever saw, and it is a glorious sight, fit for a hero.

[nkycincinnatikid]

You know the imagery of your post magnificent, you are a writer pure and simple. A hundred years ago when I was an adolescent before the millions of daily compromises had erased the very concept of nobility and glorious endeavor from my mind, this was quite literally the way I had hoped to end.

[SeeRushToldU_So]

That was beautiful.

[Bahbah]

That is beautiful, kcvl. I hope the Tillman family sees it.

[knarf]

"The sky of Afghanistan may have been the last thing he ever saw, and it is a glorious sight, fit for a hero."

I copied and pasted this line ... I italacized it, put quotes around it and prepared to make a comment ... I started to cry.

[VOA]

I just got/read the Sports Illustrated cover article on Tillman today; it was well done.

For further reference:
1. The militarycity.com profile on Tillman:
http://www.militarycity.com/valor/2860455.html

2. Alphabetical list of the honored dead (click on name for further detail)
for Operation Enduring Freedom:
http://www.militarycity.com/valor/enduring2.html
for Operation Iraqi Freedom (sad to say, this list took some time to load
on my aged computer)
http://www.militarycity.com/valor/honor2.html