As for Pat Tillman, it was the fact that he left the NFL to fight for his country that makes him a hero in spite if the circumstances of his death.
If you dive into the freezing river to rescue a child but die while the child is pulled out of the water by a helicopter with a stokes basket you are still a hero.
You said — “I never imagined that anyone could think Jessica Lynch was a hero.”
Yeah, it was sort of hokey. I think it was all related to the fact that she was a woman. And I think that the Pentagon decided to “make hay” out of it. To me..., I still think there are problems with women being at the fighting front in a war...
.
And then — “As for Pat Tillman, it was the fact that he left the NFL to fight for his country that makes him a hero in spite if the circumstances of his death.”
I would agree with that. I mean, he did feel so committed to his country that he was willing to join. And that’s very commendable. And it was extremely unfortunate that he lost his life in this manner.
And it seems to be sort of how the Pentagon would want to handle it, to sort of slide it out of sight, as to how he died and just say he died in the line of duty. That makes the whole hero image hang on him much better. With a lot of people, they’ll think “What a waste” to die that way.
But, keeping in mind that he had that committment in the beginning to join, that’s something for people to “hang their hats on...”