[Grovenet] Tillman's wife: Real leaders needed

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

In officer's training (way back in the early 60's) we were told two
important facts:

1) A second lieutenant (the lowest rank in the Army officer corps) had a
life expectancy under fire on the battlefield of less than 30 minutes. That
was up from about 20 minutes during WWII. I guess that was to reassure us. 

2) A significant percentage of the fatalities among second lieutenants was
from a gunshot or multiple shots from behind him - away from the enemy and
in the line of fire of 'friendly' troops. It was the "way things were". 

As an enlisted man Cpl Tillman was the wrong rank, but he was a celebrity.
He was hit on the wrong side, but from the accounts he was facing the fire. 

Who thinks that the recently-convicted soldier who pulled an Iraqi at random
from his home and killed him, then announced to his comrades "well we just
got away with murder" was an anomaly? 

I suspect that sort of activity is far more common among those exposed to
fire than we'd like to believe. 

After all, if you take a human being, give him a deadly weapon, and tell him
to betray every bit of training he ever had about civilized behavior, why
should we be surprised if he uses his killing skills to solve the tiniest
problem, to correct his smallest irritation? After all, dying in a combat
zone is about as noteworthy as getting a cup of coffee in Forest Grove.

I agree with Mike that we'll probably never know, especially given this
current administration. But that's been true of every "wartime"
administration since the revolutionary war, as far as we know.

And, yes, soldiers under fire soil their pants a lot. It's that sort of life
for as long as it lasts. It's nothing like the movies or video games. Brave
men and women whimper and cry. The ones who scare me are the ones who don't;
the ones who grit their teeth and forge ahead bravely, resolutely, without
flinching. 

They are the insane ones.   

Ron D'Eau Claire 



-----Original Message-----
From: grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com [mailto:grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com] On
Behalf Of Steele, Mike
Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2007 2:36 PM
To: Forest Grove local interests list
Subject: Re: [Grovenet] Tillman's wife: Real leaders needed


G-Nuts...as some of you may recall, we have a fairly direct connection to
this particular tragedy in that Pat Tillman's younger cousin, Shannon, just
graduated from Pacific.  Her senior project in theatre was a play she wrote
about this. She had a double major with English and was the starting goalie
for soccer for several years.  

We spent a lot of time discussing this event.  I hope that she will keep
working on the matter; she surely has a book in her, perhaps more than one.

One thing that haunts me is that the evidence of this "friendly fire"--as we
have now come to know--was a 3-shot close-spaced cluster in Corp. Tillman's
forehead...quite a feat from 150 yards or more.  Perhaps a sniper could do
that, but the victim's body would be responding to the first hit, so even a
sniper would be hard pressed to manage a cluster like this.  No one has
claimed a sniper did this...perhaps there was someone with unbelievable
skills pulling the trigger.  Of course, there's another possibility...a
close up shooting...which could make this something other than "friendly
fire."

Given the current inability of the American public to find out anything
straight or true from its government, we may never know.

--Mike

-----Original Message-----
From: grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com [mailto:grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com] On
Behalf Of allnutt
Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2007 1:25 PM
To: 'Forest Grove local interests list'
Subject: Re: [Grovenet] Tillman's wife: Real leaders needed

I find it very interesting that the military thought it was necessary to
burn his diaries to 'keep us safe' from whatever he was going to say about
the war. 
 
Yes, we need authentic leaders but I would settle for more truth telling
from our current leaders even if they are lousy.
 
Katie
 
-----Original Message-----
From: grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com [mailto:grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com] On
Behalf Of Bob Browning
Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2007 9:10 AM
To: Grovenet
Subject: [Grovenet] Tillman's wife: Real leaders needed
 
Boy, oh boy, is the following the truth . . . 

http://tinyurl.com/2wnk45

bob "tell it like it really is, and not like we would like it to be"
browning
 
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