Heroes!!!

January 26, 2009

Matt Stewart

Heroes!!!

What is it inside someone that elevates them to greatness? How does someone transcend from ordinary to legendary? What defines a hero? Dictionary.com defines a hero as “a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.” I met a man like this once. His name was Pat Tillman. I, like so many others, served in the United States military and had the opportunity to deploy overseas in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. I spent my first few weeks, adjusting to the life in the desert, and then was notified that I would be going forward into Baghdad, Iraq. We flew into Baghdad at night and with the U.S. Army Ranger Battalion. A few days later, one of the maintenance guys walks over with someone behind him. It was then that I met Pat Tillman for the first time. I have had the opportunity to meet NFL players in the past, but this was different. He was one of us. He was a soldier. As the days turned to weeks our base camp a.k.a. Tent City, I would run into Pat quite often. He always had the time to chat on his way to somewhere. We would exchange words in passing, or around the camp. What people don’t understand about deployments is the fact that everyone is always around. I operated a forklift, and was in charge of transporting cargo to different points around the camp. There were times when Pat was the guy on the other end that was signing for it. If you saw a group gathered around I’m sure that Pat was nearby. I’m sure that a great deal of the attention was due to his NFL career. Celebrities draw crowds. There are always people that you want to be around. There is just something about them that draws you in. It may be something they’ve done or something they want to do, or nothing at all; it doesn’t matter. You just feel connected to them in some way. Pat was like that. He had something that just attracted people. No matter how many were around he never acted better than any of us. He would even sign the occasional autograph. He was a truly genuine person.

Keywords: Arizona Cardinals, army, army rangers, iraq, pat tillman

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