We interrupt this blogfest for a sad announcement.

Incredible. And I think I am a patriot. I'm not sure I measure up. No, wait. I DON'T measure up. I don't think if I was in his shoes I would have turned down several million bucks to go defend the country. His sacrifice shames me.

Don't let his sacrifice shame you - make his sacrifice worth it. Enjoy your freedom, every day.

I think I just heard a non-commenting comment... but I'm not sure. Regardless - I agree completely!

Three words: Pat Tillman Stadium

At the risk of the wrath of our host, please allow me to take a slightly different tack, and present a slight refinement of something I wrote last night. You see, I find the amount of press Tillman's getting to be a little disturbing. Don't misunderstand; I have a small mountain of respect for Tillman. I have sympathy for his family, his loved ones, his buddies in the field. However, I outright refuse to be caught in the trap of regarding the death of this one soldier as being of greater impact than the death of any other. I will not hold the service of this one to be unequal to any other that serves us true. I cannot dispute that Tillman gave up greater financial wealth to put on the uniform of his country, than most soldiers do. Certainly, he wasn't after the glory, as someone else in the news recently would seem to have done. I don't call THAT true service. He could have covered himself in a certain kind of personal glory on the football field if that was what he was about. Perhaps some historical perspective will help me make my point clearer. I had occasion to see "The Glenn Miller Story" again just recently, and am now struck by the parallels, as I have been in the past. Miller put on his uniform because he thought he could do some good in his country's efforts against the Nazi threat. He ended up giving his life for his choice. Who knows where Miller's music would have taken him, had he lived out his natural life, instead of ending up at the bottom of the English Channel. Like Miller, Pat Tillman's choice was about personal sacrifice, and of service... Service of an ideal he thought bigger than himself. That kind of dedication is be cherished, certainly. However, we must not allow ourselves to be swayed by the life position the soldier had, before he/she was a soldier. We must not allow that metric to guide us in the amount of respect shown them, be they living or dead after their service. They're all worthy of the very same respect, living or dead. Not because of their having lived or died, not because of the amounts of money or positions they gave up, or what impact they had on us when they weren't wearing the uniform, but because of their respect and understanding of the ideals that uniform represents. Ideals they hold highest... to the point where they chose to put ON that uniform, to accept the risks associated with it... to advance those ideals. We should hold such people, ALL who serve us true, in our hearts. And Tillman would be, I suppose, among the first to agree with my thought. PS: I suppose I should clarify about true service.....Compare the record of Tillman vs that of one other who is in the public eye of late, and see if you can't see any differences between them.

Richard - I'm not sure how to react to your comment. You did fight in the Forgotten War. So did my Dad. In fact, my Dad got to fight in two wars, Korea and Vietnam, that didn't afford their veterans the same sense of, what, shall we call it accomplishment?, as vets of wars before or since. And my father got 7 Purple Hearts, a Silver Star, Bronze with V, and Distinguished Flying Cross (not many of those awarded to non-aircrew!). I honor all the vets of all the wars, why not? I'm one too -and I didn't get any parades, either - because I was a stateside spectator to Desert Storm. But you also have to come to some reckoning of the difference between the then and now. We'd just fought WWII, and we were fighting again. There were a lot of former soldiers around in the population, unlike now. Soldiers who had also fought in tough combat, whether it was the beaches of Normandy, the fields of Holland, the forest of the WestWall or Ardennes. Not to forget Guadalcanal, Peleliu, Tarawa, Iwo, Okinawa. They afforded their fellow soldiers grudging respect - but the ones who hadn't be recalled to fight Korea were also glad to not get wrapped up in Korea, too. Everybody (as far as I can tell from reading and talking to family) just wanted that one to go away, because they'd had their 'Big One'. Chesty didn't get the press for fighting his regiment back from the Chosin that he got for fighting 'em on Peleliu. Don't hold your war against the soldiers of this war. At the sharp end, life still sucks. And this is their generation's "Big One". As one of my favorite quotes to come out of the dash to Baghdad encapsulates: "Sometimes, you just have to embrace the suck." I honor your service, as I do my father's - and my grandfather's before him... but I'm not going to denigrate this generation - which I don't think you were after... like I said, I'm just not sure how to react to your comment - other than to say we're all a part of the Band of Brothers, whether the civilians are fawning over us (or, in the case of Indymedia, spitting on the graves) or not.