# Tillman Apology



## MAJOR_Baker (30 Apr 2004)

Rene Gonzalez (a Male) apologizes.....

Apology


----------



## condor888000 (30 Apr 2004)

So he‘s not a complete idiot.


----------



## Genesis (30 Apr 2004)

Oh, he‘s a complete idiot, he just realizes that it is better to apologize than stick with the way he really feels. Rene is still a tool.


----------



## condor888000 (30 Apr 2004)

Most likely.


----------



## Slim (2 May 2004)

....What is wrong with our world today that some jumped up ,snot-nosed, overeducated Yahoo has to slag a national hero who stood up for what he believed in?!

Is it that these weak minded souls can‘t stand that someone in the world actually has the conviction to try to change things for the good?!

Maybe when someone stands up and says "this isn‘t right and I‘m going to try and help fix it", others feel, somehow, slighted because they won‘t ( and can‘t) do the same.

It takes guts to say "I don‘t agree with that", then do something about it. I think some people get angry when they realize they don‘t have the "stuffing" to do something similer. 

And standing for something that isn‘t popular, whether its right or not, just won‘t do. Why we couldn‘t be UNPOPULAR!! What would happen when we went down to our local coffee shop and hung out with the rest of the psudo-beatniks who don‘t like anything that has to do with sticking up for your country!? They might even call you a bad name! 

Something that might get them hurt, or killed. And for heavens sake they can‘t suffer any discomfort now can they! Might interupt their favourite soap opera.

Column by 

Slim

Who is proud to have been a soldier!


----------



## Jarnhamar (2 May 2004)

"What is wrong with our world today"

I know how you feel slim. i can‘t stand when someone dies in a movie or you see a scene intended to be somber and some idiots start laughing or clapping.  I was watching The Hunted at the theater and when it was showing the mass murder at the beginning 3 guys startded laughing infront of me. I made a comment that shut them up but i was embarassed when i noticed two of them, after the movie was finished, had on RMC jackets.

pople have no social common sense.
I agree too this dummy only appologized to try and save his ***.


----------



## AlphaCharlie (2 May 2004)

Not that I think his collumn was appropriate, but because he was a football player and he was KIA they labelled him a hero... how is he different than anyone else whos died so far?


----------



## Michael Dorosh (2 May 2004)

> Originally posted by AlphaCharlie:
> [qb] Not that I think his collumn was appropriate, but because he was a football player and he was KIA they labelled him a hero... how is he different than anyone else whos died so far? [/qb]


He could have pulled down 3.5 million dollars a year doing something far more enjoyable.

Not a real toughie to figure out.


----------



## Slim (3 May 2004)

I wonder if his family tried to pressured him out of joning up.

Didn‘t work, did it.

Soldier on Brother, soldier on...   

Slim


----------



## rdschultz (3 May 2004)

Michael Dorosh:  I‘m not trying to be anal, but I think it was a 3-year $3.6M contract.  So, *only* $1.2 Million a year.


----------



## Slim (3 May 2004)

> Originally posted by hoser rd:
> [qb] Michael Dorosh:  I‘m not trying to be anal, but I think it was a 3-year $3.6M contract.  So, *only* $1.2 Million a year. [/qb]


Still a heck of a lot more than a U.S. Army Ranger makes.


----------



## Freight_Train (3 May 2004)

http://www.navyseals.com/community/articles/article.cfm?id=3439 
Tillman‘s final moments earn Silver Star
Written by The Arizona Republic
Sunday May 2, 2004
Billy House
The Arizona Republic, Washington Bureau
May. 1, 2004 12:00 AM

WASHINGTON - Pat Tillman died while leading a team of Army Rangers up a remote southeastern Afghan hill to knock out enemy fire that had pinned down other American soldiers, the Army said Friday.
The Army released details of the death of the former Arizona Cardinals football player as it announced that he was posthumously awarded the Silver Star, its third-highest award for combat valor.
Tillman, 27, and his combat team were initially not in danger from the hostile small-arms and mortar fire when the April 22 ambush began. But when the rear section of his convoy became pinned down in rough terrain, Tillman ordered his team out of its vehicles "to take the fight to the enemy forces" on the higher ground. 
As Tillman and other soldiers neared the hill‘s crest, he directed his team into firing positions, the Army said. As he sprayed the enemy positions with fire from his automatic rifle, he was shot and killed. The Army said his actions helped the trapped soldiers maneuver to safety "without taking a single casualty."
Presentation Monday 
Walter Sokalski, a spokesman for Army Special Forces Command, said the Silver Star will be presented to Tillman‘s family Monday during a public memorial service in San Jose.
"It will be presented by members of the 75th Ranger Regiment, by soldiers that knew him," Sokalski said. Tillman was in the 2nd Battalion of the regiment, based out of Fort Lewis, Wash.
Tillman, who walked away from a $3.6 million contract extension offered by the Cardinals to join the Army in 2002, this week also was posthumously promoted to corporal from specialist. 
Pentagon officials had previously given only sketchy details of the fighting 26 miles southwest of Khost, saying that the ambush took place about 7:30 p.m. (6 a.m. Arizona time) near the village of Sperah and that two other soldiers were wounded and an Afghan Militia Force soldier was killed.
Tillman‘s platoon was in the region as part of a spring offensive called Operation Mountain Storm aimed at rooting out hard-line Taliban and al-Qaida fighters.
Ranger died heroically 
But, according to the details provided Friday, Tillman led his Ranger team that day "without regard for his own safety" and was shot and killed heroically trying to protect his comrades.
Tillman‘s platoon had been split into two sections during a patrol.
Tillman, a team leader, was in the platoon‘s front when the rear section was hit with enemy fire. Because of the rough terrain, "the trail element was unable to maneuver out of the kill zone, and it was difficult for the embattled trail section to target the enemy positions," according the Army‘s description of the events.
Although his group was safely out of that danger area, the Army said, Tillman ordered his team members to get out of their vehicles and maneuver up a hill near the enemy‘s location. 
As they got to the crest of the hill, "Tillman‘s voice was heard issuing commands to take the fight to the enemy forces emplaced on the dominating high ground."
It was during this effort, as he provided suppressive fire, that Tillman was shot and killed, the Army said.
Sokalski said Friday that he had no information on whether any of the enemy attackers had been identified or captured.
Platoon leader‘s praise 
During a briefing Friday with Pentagon reporters, Gen. John Abizaid, commander of U.S. Central Command, which includes operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, said he was able to talk Thursday with 1st Lt. Dave Hutman, Tillman‘s platoon leader.
"I asked him about Pat Tillman," Abizaid told the reporters. "He said, ‘Pat Tillman was a great Ranger and a great soldier, and what more can I say about him?‘
"When he was talking to me, he was still nursing a large number of wounds that he sustained in that firefight where Pat Tillman lost his life. 
"These soldiers are fighting hard. They‘re fighting well. They‘re fighting courageously. And the only thing that the lieutenant could say to me is that he needed to get back in the field to his troops


----------



## Jarnhamar (3 May 2004)

whats the difference between corporal and specialist?


----------



## Freight_Train (3 May 2004)

Specialist is between private and corporal.
Greg


----------



## Freight_Train (3 May 2004)

"The Army, for example, has the ranks of corporal and specialist at the pay grade of E-4. 
A corporal is expected to fill a leadership role and has a higher rank than a specialist 
even though both receive the same amount of pay."
From  http://www.military-quotes.com/ranks/army-rank-insignia.htm 
Greg


----------



## rdschultz (3 May 2004)

I asked a National Guardsman friend of mine (who‘s now in Iraq) what the difference was, and he said that Corporal and Specialist were essentially the same thing, but corporal was a fairly rare rank.

Then again, he also thought that 2nd Lt. was a higher rank than 1st Lt., so I don‘t know how reputable a source he is.


----------



## Michael Dorosh (3 May 2004)

> Originally posted by Ghost778:
> [qb] whats the difference between corporal and specialist? [/qb]


Specialists come in many grades, equivalent to corporal or the various grades of sergeant.  They designate those with special skills - for example, a radioman in an infantry platoon may be a specialist because he has training in radio equipment, whereas his rifleman counterpart is a corporal.   Specialist grades are equal to the "hard stripe" grades, they just represent different functions.

The specialist system goes back to WW II, when they had Technicians.  Remember Saving Private Ryan?  Corporal Upham was actually a Technician 4th class - his corporal stripes had  a "T" underneath.   If you look at Band of Brothers, George Luz was a T-5 - equal to a sergeant, he wore three stripes with the T below, because he was a trained radio operator.

By the 1960s, the Technicians grades were replaced with "Specialists".  Spec 4, Spec 5 etc - their insignia is a coat of arms, with higher grades denoted by upside down "rockers" over the insignia.


----------

