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Tillman

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  • azlibertarian November 7, 2022, 2:03 PM

    I have a bit of a third-hand experience with Tillman. Daughter#1ofazlib (like Sonofazlib and Daughter#2) is a graduate of Arizona State, and while she was there, she was a Tillman Scholar. Her being a Tillman Scholar was a huge honor and we were very proud of her for this achievement. After she graduated, she was asked to join the Tillman Team for the New York Marathon (!)*. Since then, we have participated in the Pat’s Run a number of times. I believe that the Tillman Foundation does good work and they will continue to receive some of my charitable giving. They exist to get young people to push themselves….to find a way to serve….and to make their community and the world a better place.

    All that said, I think that conservatives latch onto Tillman without looking very deeply at him. He was an ideal liberal, if I can make up a term. He and I probably wouldn’t agree on much in the world, but unlike most of today’s progressive liberals, I don’t think that he would condemn me for my differences with him. His enlistment in the Army was a huge thing, and I wonder how many young millionaire Republicans would have been able to give up their lifestyle for one of an Army enlisted man. But his service in the Army wasn’t entirely altruistic….while he was offering the country his genuine service, he also had intentions for political office after he left the Army. Imagine the political stature of a John Kerry, if John Kerry wasn’t a Class 1 douche-wagon. The resume he was compiling would have made him a formidable political opponent.

    Yeah, it is the Guardian, and it was written in the heyday of Everything-We-Were-Told-about-The-War-is-a-Lie-and-We-Never-Should-Have-Gone, but I offer The Inconvenient Truth about Patrick Tillman.

    *Funny story about the Tillman Team to the New York Marathon that year…..

    While they were at ASU, Daughter#1 had been pals with a guy who I’ll call “John”, and they graduated the same year. John was a died-in-the-wool liberal, and as his first post-college job, he went to the Clinton Foundation in NYC. Anyway, it turned out that he hated NYC, and so about a year after being at Clinton, Inc., he went shopping for another job and landed one with the Tillman Foundation. Since he was then at the Tillman Foundation, and with his recent NYC experience, he became the guy to coordinate the Tillman Team for the NY Marathon. The way these marathon teams work is that they go out to the marathon community and offer places on their team for a certain amount of pledged donations to the Foundation. But a marathon is a solo sport. None of these Tillman Team members had ever met each other until the day before the race.

    And the Tillman Foundation had all this schwag that they wanted to give all the runners….warm-up suits, shoes, all kinds of stuff. But “John” needed a place in Mid-town Manhattan for all these team members to meet and for him to distribute the schwag to them. And so “John” called his former-colleagues at the Clinton Foundation and said “Hey, could I use your conference room on the Saturday before the NY Marathon?” (the marathon is always on a Sunday), to which, of course, they agreed.

    And so that, my friends, is how Mrs. azlib and I, along with our #1 daughter, found ourselves seated in the conference room of the Clinton Foundation on a crisp Saturday morning in November while enjoying a continental breakfast.

    There endeth the true story.

    • ghostsniper November 8, 2022, 1:03 PM

      When I was with the 101st (20th Engr Bn) we had to wear red berets. If anyone showed up in formation sporting their beret like that they would have payed dearly. I saw other beret infractions rewarded with wearing a steel pot for 30 days. Also, down over the eye like that is just plain stupid. I guess noobs thought it looked kool or sumfink.

      • azlibertarian November 8, 2022, 1:26 PM

        Its funny that you mention red berets.

        I didn’t elaborate on it above, but the occasion of that continental breakfast at the Clinton Foundation in Mid-town Manhattan was a little longer than just Here’s-your-schwag-and-how-did-you-enjoy-the-danish? The guy from the Tillman Foundation–“John”–had to introduce everybody and where they were from, and all that. He also had to thank everyone for bringing all this money into the Foundation and he made note of the students that they were giving scholarships to that year.

        Following all that, a young woman from the Clinton Foundation spoke, and told us how much they admired the Tillman Foundation, and what a great job “John” had done while he was with them, etc., etc., etc. This woman was a little chunky, in her late 20’s/early 30’s and it being a Saturday and all, she was dressed in Bohemian-casual….jeans, some kinda plaid shirt and a little vest that I’m sure she thought was cute. And here’s the kicker: She was wearing a red beret.

        I’m sorry, but there are rules in the world. Some of those rules are written down, and others are just understood. Regardless, post-Monica, no woman EVAR can work in the Clinton Empire and also wear a beret. She just can’t. I’m the last guy to give fashion advice to anyone (I’m wearing Crocs as I type), but berets are not allowed around the Clintons.

        • ghostsniper November 8, 2022, 6:07 PM

          Wasn’t until the last paragraph that I realized where you were going with that. But yeah, a female wearing a beret signals she also polishes trailer hitches. After 3 and a half years wearing traditional army head gear, mostly a ball cap, I didn’t take too well to the beret. No bill. What’s the point? The army is big on symbolism….

  • Anonymous White Male November 7, 2022, 2:34 PM

    “18 years later, I still think Pat has something to teach us…”

    Yeah. What he taught us is never trust the government.

  • Mike Austin November 7, 2022, 4:49 PM

    In Oklahoma City I taught some kids who were related to Tillman. Their families never believed the official narrative. It was lies all around. Certainly, Tilman’s death was “friendly fire” as far as that odd phrase goes. Was it purposeful or accidental? We shall never know. Yet another lie of the Deep State.

    • ghostsniper November 7, 2022, 7:39 PM

      There are a lot of lies in that whole sordid affair.

      • Tom Hyland November 8, 2022, 4:58 PM

        I’ve got it on my “to read” list… sitting on a shelf nearby… “”Where Men Win Glory” by Jon Krakauer. I know a little about this book that Tilman was whacked by his own people and the big lie ensued. Currently reading another whack job… “Son of the Morning Star” by Evan Connell. This is Custer’s last campaign… marching into Montana and the Little Bighorn. Holy moly. Getting nervous just reading this thing.

        • ghostsniper November 8, 2022, 6:10 PM

          If it was intentional, why? I get a weerd vibe from the whole story from the very beginning. I think it’s the part about walking away from a multimillion dollar contract to join the army part. Just doesn’t make sense.

  • robert kendall November 7, 2022, 8:26 PM

    thats weird , I was just thinking about him the other day…

  • ghostsniper November 8, 2022, 6:24 PM

    My old unit, 54th Engr’s, was involved with a fratricide incident during desert storm. If you want to read about it you can do so at the link. Warning, it is heavy with militaryeze.

    https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-OSI-95-10/html/GAOREPORTS-OSI-95-10.htm