Pat Tillman, the Army and The Silver Star

[letterboy]

I am not saying that this is the first time this has happened I am in the military I know it happens, alot more than once or twice, I have the utmost respect for anyone who has been underfire.


John

 

[shark.byte.usa]

The family isn't "lying" - they have been misled. Drawn in.

As I seem to remember the family weren't huggin the press when their son was killed, they didn't want the public displays, but gave in to public sentiment. They didn't capitalize on their son's death, by doing the Oprah, Larry King, CNN circuit. They relied on the information about their son's death from the Army not the media, so who are you saying did the misleading? The families lashing out at the Army, just strengthens my belief that the misleading was done by the Army itself.

You must carefully sift through what they "think" and/or "believe" and what is verifyable fact....[excerpt for your original post] The original combat report suspected the possibility of friendly fire in the "fog of war."

I agree 100%, are you privy to the official combat reports that the rest of us are not? If so please share, if not you have no verifyable facts yourself.

From the Army, what we have here is a lot of good faith effort by a lot of well meaning folks to take care of Tillman's family the best way they knew how with the information they had at the time twisted into something sinister by a military hating press. The use of the family by the press in their agenda is shameful.

Sir, your blind faith that anything that comes from the mouths of a uniformed soldier and/or the government is to be trusted and anything coming from the media is fabricated, seems all too black and white to me, eventually soldiers, climb the chain and ultimately become politicians, weather they like it or not. I have to wholeheartedly disagree with your assesment that the quick awarding of the silver star and the posthumuos promotion of Pat Tillman, before an investigation was complete, served the government no purpose at the time and was ALL in "Good Faith" & "Well Meaning". I find that preposterous, they definitely took advantage of his fame. Had he been Pat Tillman an auto mechanic from Butte, MT, an investigation would have been completed prior to the awarding of any accolades.

I support our troops, love my country, greatly respect and applaud Pat Tilman's selflisness, and feel remorse for his family for having to publicly endure this ordeal. I however don't always agree with our government's agenda and policies nor am I required to.

You seem to want to debate Media vs Government and who's the most believable, this is not debatable for me, personally I think they are both "BIG FAT LIARS", and take what either says with a grain of salt.

In my humble simplistic abbreviated opinion. Iraq should have been left alone to deal with the UN, Osama Bin Laden should be dead by now, we should be kickin the **** out of N. Korea, someone with verifiable WMD's, and arguably with a bigger psychotic in charge.

As is your snide remark about the President.

The truth hurts sometimes.

 

[Lil' Irish Temper]

The poll reads: If review shows that Pat Tillman did not merit Silver Star, should it be rescinded?

Why should they let him keep it if he didn't earn it? The Marines just revoked 11 soldiers medals, why is this guy any different?

If you are Tillmans CO, and just watched a up & coming NFL star under your command just get dusted, you would paint a pretty picture the way he died too.

The Army needed a poster boy - What more could you ask for, US Army Ranger, ladies drooled over him, quits the NFL to protect his country. That my friend is Mr. All American, and that's the way to remember him by.

The Army doesn't like to admit it, when it makes mistakes. So even if Tillman shouldn't have been awarded it, he will keep it.

 

[MoonWrasse]

The poll reads: If review shows that Pat Tillman did not merit Silver Star, should it be rescinded?

Why should they let him keep it if he didn't earn it? The Marines just revoked 11 soldiers medals, why is this guy any different?

If you are Tillmans CO, and just watched a up & coming NFL star under your command just get dusted, you would paint a pretty picture the way he died too.

The Army needed a poster boy - What more could you ask for, US Army Ranger, ladies drooled over him, quits the NFL to protect his country. That my friend is Mr. All American, and that's the way to remember him by.

The Army doesn't like to admit it, when it makes mistakes. So even if Tillman shouldn't have been awarded it, he will keep it.

If the military commanders aren't accountable for their actions, why hold the soldiers in battle to that standard? We sould publish the name of those commanders who can't do their jobs correctly, instead of just the individual soldiers who become the victim of such slop.

Geez, so much mediocrity with our military commanders.

 

[Lil' Irish Temper]

If the military commanders aren't accountable for their actions, why hold the soldiers in battle to that standard? We sould publish the name of those commanders who can't do their jobs correctly, instead of just the individual soldiers who become the victim of such slop.

Geez, so much mediocrity with our military commanders.

Believe me, I couldn't agree more with you Wrasse, but it alot easier to point the finger at others, then be held accountable for what happened, and lose a career.

Please don't think I am saying this about all commanders, but like with anything cops, soldiers, judges, etc there are a few bad apples.

I am not trying to take anything away from Tillman, and never would. I wasn't there and the only ones who know what happened were there. But if he was hit by American fire while getting a drink of water when a Taliban was walking past him - No, he shouldn't receive that medal, If he was in engaged with a Taliban and was hit by American fire, while going above the call of duty - Yes, he should keep it.

 

[DennisS]

If the military commanders aren't accountable for their actions, why hold the soldiers in battle to that standard? We sould publish the name of those commanders who can't do their jobs correctly, instead of just the individual soldiers who become the victim of such slop.

Geez, so much mediocrity with our military commanders.

IT flows downhill, it's a tradition.

 

[Zippsy]

Well, Zippsy, as I so clearly posted in the initial post, "the United States Army".

If you're going to ask a question regarding a post, please extend the poster the courtesy of reading the thread first.

Jeeze, I thought I did but if you don't know the answer maybe this would help.

 

[The Kraken]

I didn't say "army division", I said "the United States Army". It's a collective noun, that means it includes all of the elements of the army and that it acts as a single entity.

 

[Zippsy]

Thanks. Now it's clear.

 

[caymaniac]

Sir, your blind faith that anything that comes from the mouths of a uniformed soldier and/or the government is to be trusted and anything coming from the media is fabricated, seems all too black and white to me, eventually soldiers, climb the chain and ultimately become politicians, weather they like it or not.
.

I like your vocal opinion, I do not agree with it however, and this blanket statement I find offensive. It may be true for a select few such as JFK, or John McCain but all the soldiers that I personally know are not nor have been politicians.
I do find the media offensive, almost all media is left leaning. The press in general would love to embarass the current president, this is proven by the late firing of media moguls who tried to present false stories with false documents and then the press gives them an award for how awesome they are....what a joke. The crap that CNN spews is getting ridiculous and NBC, ABC, CBS would love to see something bad happen to our President. I don't agree with all his policies either (especially the border policy) but the harassment from the press has gone too far.
There only have been a few Presidents of the US that I really admire, one is George Washington and the other Lincoln, then John Adams. After that list I find each President has enough that I like and dislike that I would not put them in the same category. I will also state that our current President does rate near the top with me, not so much with his poicies but with his stance and his belief system.