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April 23, 2004

Where Do We Get Such Men?

In May 2002, Arizona Cardinals football star Pat Tillman left the Cardinals to join the Army. He and his brother Kevin became Rangers, the Army's small-unit tactics specialists. Tillman believed that serving his country in time of war was important enough to give up millions of dollars.

This week Tillman made the supreme sacrifice. He was killed in a small firefight in eastern Afghanistan.

Tillman will get more attention because of who he was. And, in fairness, he did sacrifice a great deal simply to join the Army, let alone his far harsher sacrifice this week. But he is also another representative of the many soldiers who are giving their time and their lives in support of this country.

"Where do we get such men? They leave this ship and they do their job. Then they must find this speck lost somewhere on the sea. When they find it, they have to land on its pitching deck. Where do we get such men?"
- Rear Admiral George Tarrant in James Michener's The Bridges at Toko-Ri

Update: A Peggy Noonan column discussing America's Pat Tillmans.