Where Men Win Glory

As you can see to the left of this page, I’ve been reading the Jon Krakauer book, Where Men Win Glory.

I’ve read a couple of Krakauer’s other books and thoroughly enjoyed them. Into Thin Air is a great story of a failed Mt Everest attempt with deadly consequences while Into The Wild has been turned into a movie by Sean Penn about a young man who gives up the trappings of modern life and goes into the wilderness to find himself.

Where Men Win Glory is the story of Pat Tillman, a star NFL gridiron player on a multi-million contract who gave it all away to join the US Army in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. He eventually joined the elite Rangers regiment and served in the Invasion of Iraq before being killed while on a patrol mission in Afghanistan just a few kilometres from the Pakistan border.

While the book celebrates Tillman’s life and his rare display of sacrifice and commitment, it also delves into the controversy surrounding his death and the politics that were at play at the time. You see, Tillman wasn’t killed by Taliban forces in an ambush as reported by the US Government at the time. He was actually shot by a fellow Ranger in an inconceivable case of fratricide, or in simple terms, friendly fire. A truth that the Bush Administration did not want to get out and who actively deceived Tillman’s family and the public to make sure it did not.

I found myself absolutely seething at some of the narrative in the book about the actions of the military and White House officials. References to PR people in the Bush Administration purposely interfering in the investigation into Tillman’s death and then promoting a lie all in the name of curtailing a nosedive in Bush’s approval ratings certainly made my blood boil. And apparently these people were fully aware that one day the truth would get out, but they didn’t care as it was all about controlling the news cycle at the time and making sure the President eventually got re-elected.

So the Bush Administration pushed the line that a heroic All-American patriot had been killed in action by the Taliban during an ambush on his patrol. A hero who’d given up fame and fortune playing in the NFL to give back to his country and make the ultimate sacrifice for its people.

It was all a crock of shite though as the ultimate sacrifice he made was actually at the hands of his fellow soldiers in a bizarre and almost criminal display of negligence where his killers shot manically into the hills around them despite the fact they knew there were friendly forces in them. His commanders had let Tillman down badly as well by not providing logistical and air support to his platoon during its patrol and by demanding that it follow a strict timetable set down by some desk bureaucrat in Washington who had no idea of the local terrain and conditions.

Tillman was also vehemently opposed to the Bush Administration in its pursuit of the Iraq War and was openly sceptical of its foreign policies. He was no brain-dead sports jock and had studied political science and economics at College so was able to critique and question some of that policy despite the fact he was serving as one of its instruments. As a soldier, he could also see the realities on the ground in both Iraq and Afghanistan and the lies being told to the American public about both conflicts.

None of that mattered though to the politicians and to those who are tasked with keeping them employed as politicians. The truth is the first casualty of war as the saying goes, but the actions of so many in the case of Pat Tillman were reprehensible and showed a complete lack of compassion and humanity for both the man and his family.

Anyway, this post isn’t going to be all ranting and raving. As with all wars, its not the politicians who start them that end up carrying the greatest burden. It’s the simple men and women of a nation that do that. Fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, husbands, wives, brothers and sisters.

I'm not one for honky flag-waving patriotism, particular in the American style, but I defintely recommend that you take a look at this video as you'll get that sense, that it's simple men and women and their families that carry the burden the hardest.

There just must have been an onion or something lying around when I watched it.

EDM.