July 13, 2002

AAPOST ONLINE

Talk about contrasts: think about this: John Walker Lindh, the so called Taliban, who has plea bargained himself into a twenty year prison sentence(See related article) and Pat Tillman, the 25 year old football star turned soldier. Fascinating! I think I understand Walker Lindh: 21 years old and stupid. Parents who were incredibly permissive is to simple a reason. No doubt his parents were caught up in the hot tubbing Marin county, CA lifestyle with too much time in the sun

I find myself not being able to be too hard on Walker Lindh. Anyone who has adult children gets it. Our children make stupid decisions. What we hope for is that they, unlike WL, don't do something so dumb that their life is forever changed.

It happens, i. e., the news. Having been around soldiers for much of my adult life, I can tell you that in their youth, they can be almost as unthinking as WL(Walker Lindh), given the right circumstances. When I was a young chaplain in Germany during Vietnam, they would often be lined up outside my door--Tom's barber shop--take a number. At any one time, I can remember having about a dozen waiting with everything from wanting to be a conscientious objector to figuring out how to claim they were gay without anybody knowing. Then there were the dope heads, malingerers, those who hated authority, you name it. It was America's Army and not sure that it has changed all that much, at least the 10% with whom the chaplains, lawyers, doctors, and other professionals seemingly spend their time.

Walker Lindh sets out to Pakistan to find God but finds the Taliban. The jury is still out on how involved he really was with Bin Laden. Lindh doesn't strike me as the Rambo type, more like a perpetual student at Berkeley waiting for the next demonstration or trying to figure out if the Sixties are coming back. He's a messed up kid who was stupid and made wrong decisions. And, he is being duly punished for his stupidity.

Contrast Walker Lindh with 25 year old Pat Tillman who gave up millions in a football career to be a soldier. This is a movie. The weird thing is that it is almost easier to be a Walker Lindh than Tillman.

Think about it. Walker grew up with a kind of hate America philosophy which rejects materialism and goes off to exist in poverty. If he was going to join a cult like Jim Jones or Charles Manson, or maybe even to become some televangelist's groupie, we might have an easier time getting it. But, I am hard pressed to see any charismatic Islamic types for him to join. Most who are in the headlines are fanatics who are into suffering.

Tillman, on the other hand, faces a formative task trying to become a soldier. He can do it and will but today's media will hound him to death. He can't be one of the guys. And, this is sad as the camaraderie of the military is unparallel by any other single rite of passage, I know.

Could you possibly imagine Elvis as a soldier with the proliferation of modern media? It was bad enough in his day but with all the camera lights on Tillman--cable channels, news outlets-poor guy. He won't have time to soldier as interviewing will be his main job. Not his fault .

The modern day military is as concerned with a public image as a modern day rock star. The lure of the camera is a drug. Look at Rumsfeld-he's on camera more than Britney Spears. And, these generals on TV; giving interviews, speaking before Congress in the camera's eye, appearing on the nightly news, and trying to line up their next job as an analyst for CNN. Even in the course of battle or right after, the cameras are there. We have some "yahoo" (and that ain't the search engine) sticking a microphone in a Sergeant's face, saying, "Tell us about the battle."

I guess all of us who are interested should be thankful that soldiers are in vogue; however, it seems somehow incongruous with the purpose of soldiering. Just the other night, I saw a program following the training of some Special Forces troops. These are guys who are trained to live off the land, endure cold and hunger, and eat what billie goats wouldn't or so says Stallone in the first Rambo movie.

Why would the military allow cameras to record the training of a bunch of snake eaters? I know the news outlets need stories but it glorifies the process of war to the degree that I'm not sure it's helpful, not to mention distracting. It surely is not in the best interest of the country. And, it conveys the idea of some action hero who is a step away from the girl. Ask the troops in Afghanistan what the true picture is.

For those of us who still believe in the basic purpose of the military-to fight and win wars, all this TV exposure doesn't make sense. From the early days of the volunteer Army, our military is made up of mostly kids who come from the lower socio economic categories of our society--not a put down, just fact. No lawyers and doctor kids signing up. Maybe we're seeing a change. We have some very talented young men and women joining the armed forces to help their country because, I hope, they love their country. How could we not applaud this?

We have to be proud of the Tillmans of the world and I for one am accepting his commitment at face value. I am amazed in some way that after the sort of cultural battles we've been fighting of late: everything from the disdain of patriotism to the "under God" issues all around us that we still have some Tillmans.

I admire his sacrifice and simply feel sorry for Lindh's misguided actions. My biggest hope is that Tillman gets a chance to truly to be all he can be and not an Army of ONE. He has chosen and he deserves not to have the interference and distractions of those trying to figure out his motives. God bless him and Walker Lindh too.