The Things They Gave Up
No offense to Cpl. Pat Tillman, 27, who gave up a 3.6 million NFL contract to become an Army Ranger after September 11, 2001, but I’m tired of hearing about what he gave up.
Not everybody will survive a war. Lt. Commander William H. Ayers of the U.S. Navy said after Desert Storm, “In every conflict there are losses imposed by the enemy.” Conversely, some losses like Tillman’s are imposed through “friendly fire” or fratricide. All losses are sad, even tragic.
When Tillman abandoned his football jersey to wear the uniform of a soldier, he didn’t think about what he was giving up. He thought about what he was gaining. Now although four separate investigations have determined that Tillman was shot accidentally by a member of his unit, investigators are considering the possibility of charges of negligent homicide. I am cynical enough to think that Tillman’s death is getting a closer examination because of who he was and what he was worth.
But is the life of an athlete worth millions any more precious than the life of a man like Spc. Donald Samuel Oaks, 20, of Erie, Pennsylvania, who joined the army to get money for college only to be killed by friendly fire in Iraq? Oak, who was not likely ever to be worth millions, gave up a loving family and the promise of higher education.
Then there’s Master Sgt. Jefferson Donald Davis, 39, from Clarkesville, Tennessee, killed when a 2,000-pound satellite-guided bomb from a U.S.-guided B-52 missed a target north of Kandahar. What did this career soldier give up? The Elizabethton native gave up his wife and three children.
Let’s not forget Cpl. Roberto Abad, Cmdr. Joseph Acevedo, Sgt. 1st Class Ramon A. Acevedoaponte, Sgt. Michael D. Acklin II, Spc. Genaro Acosta Pfc., Steven Acosta, and Capt. James F. Adamouski—to name just a few from the alphabetical list of more than 2,000 men and women who have died in the Middle East from both enemy fire and friendly fire. They gave up their lives, their dreams, their dedicated service to a country at war.
Cpl. Andrew Kemple, 23, of Cambridge, Minnesota, was killed last month when his Humvee was attacked in Tikrit, Iraq. What did he give up? He gave up the privilege of being buried in peace as zealots besieged his family at his funeral. These hecklers, members of a growing Baptist congregation in Topeka, Kansas, who picket military funerals, praise God for killing American soldiers. Why? Because our troops are fighting for a country that tolerates homosexuality.
Westboro Baptist Church, a self-proclaimed Primitive Baptist Church that is not affiliated with any Baptist denomination that we know, is thankful for any killing reported, friendly or otherwise. With its protests and campaigns, it is thriving on the losses that the families of men and women serving in the Middle East are suffering. Contrary to what the Westboro Baptist Church professes, though, it’s not God that’s “spreading these dead bodies all across the war zone.”
Talented Pfc. Karina Lau, 20, of Livingston, California, won a four-year music scholarship to the University of the Pacific. Like Cpl. Tillman, shortly after September 11, 2001, she felt compelled to leave college to serve her country. In 2003, on board a helicopter that was shot down by insurgents moments after taking off to transport Lau to the airport to make connections to visit family, she gave up her life too.
Cpl. Tillman would be the first to renounce the publicity that’s following his ghost around like a vulture. I think he’d remind us that war doesn’t discriminate, and we shouldn’t either.
Felicia Mitchell. First published in Washington County News (Abingdon, VA), 15 March 2006, p. A4. WCN is a publication of Media General Operations. Copyright 2006.
Not everybody will survive a war. Lt. Commander William H. Ayers of the U.S. Navy said after Desert Storm, “In every conflict there are losses imposed by the enemy.” Conversely, some losses like Tillman’s are imposed through “friendly fire” or fratricide. All losses are sad, even tragic.
When Tillman abandoned his football jersey to wear the uniform of a soldier, he didn’t think about what he was giving up. He thought about what he was gaining. Now although four separate investigations have determined that Tillman was shot accidentally by a member of his unit, investigators are considering the possibility of charges of negligent homicide. I am cynical enough to think that Tillman’s death is getting a closer examination because of who he was and what he was worth.
But is the life of an athlete worth millions any more precious than the life of a man like Spc. Donald Samuel Oaks, 20, of Erie, Pennsylvania, who joined the army to get money for college only to be killed by friendly fire in Iraq? Oak, who was not likely ever to be worth millions, gave up a loving family and the promise of higher education.
Then there’s Master Sgt. Jefferson Donald Davis, 39, from Clarkesville, Tennessee, killed when a 2,000-pound satellite-guided bomb from a U.S.-guided B-52 missed a target north of Kandahar. What did this career soldier give up? The Elizabethton native gave up his wife and three children.
Let’s not forget Cpl. Roberto Abad, Cmdr. Joseph Acevedo, Sgt. 1st Class Ramon A. Acevedoaponte, Sgt. Michael D. Acklin II, Spc. Genaro Acosta Pfc., Steven Acosta, and Capt. James F. Adamouski—to name just a few from the alphabetical list of more than 2,000 men and women who have died in the Middle East from both enemy fire and friendly fire. They gave up their lives, their dreams, their dedicated service to a country at war.
Cpl. Andrew Kemple, 23, of Cambridge, Minnesota, was killed last month when his Humvee was attacked in Tikrit, Iraq. What did he give up? He gave up the privilege of being buried in peace as zealots besieged his family at his funeral. These hecklers, members of a growing Baptist congregation in Topeka, Kansas, who picket military funerals, praise God for killing American soldiers. Why? Because our troops are fighting for a country that tolerates homosexuality.
Westboro Baptist Church, a self-proclaimed Primitive Baptist Church that is not affiliated with any Baptist denomination that we know, is thankful for any killing reported, friendly or otherwise. With its protests and campaigns, it is thriving on the losses that the families of men and women serving in the Middle East are suffering. Contrary to what the Westboro Baptist Church professes, though, it’s not God that’s “spreading these dead bodies all across the war zone.”
Talented Pfc. Karina Lau, 20, of Livingston, California, won a four-year music scholarship to the University of the Pacific. Like Cpl. Tillman, shortly after September 11, 2001, she felt compelled to leave college to serve her country. In 2003, on board a helicopter that was shot down by insurgents moments after taking off to transport Lau to the airport to make connections to visit family, she gave up her life too.
Cpl. Tillman would be the first to renounce the publicity that’s following his ghost around like a vulture. I think he’d remind us that war doesn’t discriminate, and we shouldn’t either.
Felicia Mitchell. First published in Washington County News (Abingdon, VA), 15 March 2006, p. A4. WCN is a publication of Media General Operations. Copyright 2006.
posted by Felicia Mitchell | 9:34 AM
1 Comments:
came across you visiting jeremy hilton's site...i don't know, felicia; surely you don't support the war, do you...perhaps a column saying what the hundreds of thousands of iraqis who have died have given up to support a higher dow and more wealth for wealthy americans.....w/love and best, bill sherman (www.torriano.org and omoopart3.blogspot.com)
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