Posted on 02/02/2003 5:24:45 AM PST by RJCogburn
PAT TILLMAN's story has always been a compelling tale of selflessness and personal challenge. He left the Arizona Cardinals and the security of a $3.6 million contract to join the elite Army Rangers Special Operations unit. A friend of Tillman's said he traded in his shoulder pads for fatigues last year because he was bored with professional football. I always thought you read a good book when tedium set in.
Tillman, a former hard-hitting safety with a craving for adrenaline, gave up his lucrative life of football and foot massages for crew cuts and cursing drill sergeants. Nice story. Noble story. Now there is much more to Tillman's tale. Some things have changed.
If there were ever any doubt about the true nature of Tillman's sacrifice, look deeply at the stormy world in which we now live, a different place from when Tillman joined the Army last May. Before the United States seemed close to going to war with Iraq, before North Korea's nuclear bravado.
Tillman's life has suddenly become like the world around him, far grittier, less predictable and potentially somber. He left the N.F.L. and enlisted in the Army in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. It is unlikely that he expected his decision to lead to combat right away. Or maybe he did and simply did not care. Either way, Tillman could soon be in the thick of battle.
The prospect of war to disarm Saddam Hussein is growing — with officials in the Bush administration warning that it could be a matter of weeks, not months. If war does come, most professional athletes, like most Americans, will be watching on television from the security of their living rooms. If war does come, most professional athletes will make few, if any, personal sacrifices, just like the rest of us. They will keep playing and practicing and shopping for groceries and dropping off their children at school, like everyone else.
Tillman is different. He gave up his considerable comforts to serve his country. Now, after enduring some of the worst physical hardships the Army has to offer, he is a full-fledged Ranger; along with his brother, Kevin, he is stationed in Fort Benning, Ga., waiting to see if he will be called to fight.
If Tillman were still with the Cardinals, he might be relaxing on a beach right now, healing his body after another bruising season. Instead, he is training with his regiment.
"If his unit is sent, he will go," said Carol Darby, news media chief for the Army Special Operations command. "The Rangers can deploy anywhere in the world on 18-hours notice. He's ready for combat. He's a Ranger."
There is precedent for raw Rangers being sent to battle. The Rangers were among a group of Special Operations forces units ordered to Somalia in 1993 to fight warlords who were hoarding food. The devastating battles that followed were chronicled in the movie "Black Hawk Down." Some of those Ranger combatants had little fighting experience, according to the Army.
The Army will not say exactly what Tillman is doing now, and he has declined to comment since enlisting. "He doesn't want a lot of media attention," said Monica Manganaro, a spokeswoman for Fort Benning, "so that tells us he really wants to be a Ranger."
Tillman's decision to leap from civilian to soldier, going from playing defense in the N.F.L. to helping defend the country as part of the Rangers, the Special Operations forces light infantry unit, has always featured an element of danger. How could it not?
Training to become a Ranger includes three weeks of parachute jump school and five leaps from a C-130 or a C-141 aircraft. Danger, yes, but it seems doubtful that when Tillman enlisted he could have anticipated that the United States might be sending troops into Iraq less than a year later.
If conflict comes to Iraq, the Rangers will most likely be among the first to invade. That is what they do. That is what Tillman now does. His greatest thrill was once blowing up a running play; now he is trained to destroy bridges and railways or secure an airfield.
The greatest compliment once paid to Tillman came from the Cardinals' coaches, who raved about his toughness, especially when he set a franchise record for tackles three years ago. Compared with what he is doing now, such praise seems almost trivial.
What Darby said might be more fitting. "The Rangers are a tight-knit group," she said. "They trust each other with their lives. The fact Tillman is a Ranger says a lot about his character."
Being in Arizona, I seem to remember Tillman hoped to go to battle in Afganistan a few short months after enlistment.
I take exception with the implication that Tillman is getting more than he bargained for, sooner than expected. I think he hoped his decision would indeed lead to combat right away.
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