SpecOps

SOF Truths- SOF Can Not Be Mass Produced… Right? Apparently Not

Well, here’s another fine kettle of fish. For the past 65 years, thousands of Special Forces troops lived under the mistaken impression that it took hard work, dedication, time and a Herculean effort just to make it into SF. That didn’t take into account the training that went into making the guys who made it through the qualification course into solid A-team members…sorry Operators, (I’m showing my age).

But apparently, we’ve all been wrong, because the Big Army has figured out a way to reproduce all of that in six weeks. Six weeks! Who the hell knew that? Yes, the Big Army has developed Security Force Assistance Brigades which at Ft. Benning they are being called S-Fab…even the SF moniker to go with them.

These S-Fab units which are organized under a surprisingly SF-like structure consisting of NCOs (SSGs and above, however, SP4 Promotable can apply) and Officers and have a mission remarkably similar to the SF FID mission…because it is.

The SFAB concept has several commonalities with special operations forces, although it is clearly not intended to be a replacement or a duplicative effort. Along with advising allied forces, SFABs will provide partner armies institutional development, build partner capacity and enable local solutions to local challenges. These new brigades must be prepared to operate outside of the fully manned platoon, company and battalion formation. Inside the security cooperation umbrella, some security force assistance missions may be restricted to smaller teams advising partner forces, without a degradation in performance or security.

Ft. Benning has created the SFAB/Military Advisor Training Academy which traces its name back to the Vietnam era. Those dinosaurs of SF will fondly remember running in the sand on the old “Mata Mile” course. Part of their training will take place at Ft. Bragg at the SWC for foreign weapons training.

And here’s the kicker… these S-Fab units are going to try to entice SF NCOs and Officers there and if necessary levee them to teach at their school and/or hold leadership positions within the units. Hmm instant credibility, right?

Qualified Special Forces officers and NCOs have the ability to compete for brigade and battalion commands and command sergeants major as a second command opportunity. Additionally, SOF senior officers and NCOs are slated for key locations within the Military Advisor Training Academy and the Capabilities Management Directorate. Former advisers can shape and train future advisers.

And they are going to field these new generation “SFers” in just six weeks. And before you jump on the new generation SFers comment, take a real close look at what the unit is looking like. First, their unit patch isn’t even a creative copy of the Special Forces arrowhead design. Instead of a dagger, it looks like a short sword…the only thing missing was the three lightning bolts for SF’s methods of infiltration, but these guys won’t be on jump status. And they apparently haven’t figured out how to squeeze the Combat Diver Qualification course into their six-week qualification yet.

Olive Green Beret. (Photo Facebook SF Brothers)

At the end of their course, these SFAB folks get a Tab (Advise-Assist) and a Green Beret. An olive green one….How ‘bout that.

If it wasn’t bad enough that they absconded with the SFer moniker, the patch, the Green Beret, they couldn’t even come up with an original nickname. For many years now, the 5th Special Forces Group has been calling itself “The Legion”, which, unless you’ve been living under a freakin’ rock …or living at Ft. Benning apparently was lost on these folks. That’s right, these SFAB people are calling themselves “The Legion” it is on their brochures, their videos trying to get people to volunteer and I’m sure it is already on a sign somewhere at Benning. So, I don’t know about anyone else, but who can’t wait to see what the unit’s Beret flash is going to look like?

Our brethren from the 5th SFG(A) have to be jumping for joy over this. Imagine when these olive drab green beanies with their shiny new tabs and their SFAB attitudes call up a 5th SFG A-Team (a real one) and wants a favor.

I don’t know whose brainchild this was but whoever thought up the tab, the faux Green Beret, this patch as well as the SFAB bs name and “The Legion” needs to take a step back. One has to really wonder if the power behind that decision was someone who either quit or was a Non-Select at SFAS (Special Forces Assessment and Selection). That is the only logical response to this blatant, phony rip-off of what goes into making a real SF soldier.

And this entire time the people at the JFKSWCS (Special Warfare Center and School) have wasted so much time and effort into developing a Selection Course, creating the criteria that go into that course, then developing the different MOS courses, the time and effort into creating and assessing the SF candidates at Robin Sage. The process takes over a year and for certain MOS’ it may take even longer. Maybe next year, they’ll have a three-day block of instruction on UW (Unconventional Warfare for those Olive wearing “SFers”) and take a piece of that action as well.

Obviously, we don’t have the best and brightest at Fort Bragg. Because the folks at Benning have figured out a way to do all that in just six weeks. Six weeks…Jeez. What are we on the Oprah Show?

Excellence is Earned not Issued.

SOF Truths

Humans are more important than Hardware.
Quality is better than Quantity.
Special Operations Forces cannot be mass produced.
Competent Special Operations Forces cannot be created after emergencies occur.
Most Special Operations require non-SOF assistance

Photos: US Army, Wikipedia, SOFREP

Captured ISIS Fighter in Iraq Claims to Only Be a Cook

Iraqi officials are having to deal with a massive influx of civilian refugees as their military is putting the final touches on crushing the army of the Islamic State in both Iraq and Syria. To compound matters, they’re dealing with a huge influx of military age men, who, dirty and pitiful looking are arriving at checkpoints begging for mercy and claiming to be legitimate refugees.

But Iraqi officials believe that up to 90 percent of them are ISIS fighters and that many have committed atrocities against Iraqi civilians and military. And they’re taking no chances, as each is being interrogated thoroughly.

While civilians from the stronghold, the city of Hawija, have sought safety in Kirkuk and elsewhere in Iraq’s Kurdish region, this past weekend was the first time they came in large numbers with men of fighting age.

Iraqi Kurdish officials were taking no chances on Sunday (Oct 1) as they prepared one suspected fighter in a small office as his wife and four children squatted on the dirt outside.
A lieutenant in the Asayish, the Iraqi Kurdish region’s intelligence service, put one hand on his holstered pistol and pointed with the other hand at a spot on the tiled floor. The prisoner understood and knelt on that spot, as an Asayish corporal tied the man’s hands behind his back with a scarf.
“It doesn’t matter what you do, I’m not going to spy for you,” said the man, Salah Hassan, 32, who described himself as a former construction worker.
“We don’t care about that,” the lieutenant said. “Just tell the truth.”
“Yes, tell them you’re ISIS,” the corporal said, brandishing a pipe in the prisoner’s face. “Don’t lie.”
Hassan hung his head and admitted it, then looked up. “I was only a cook.”

The Iraqi forces don’t buy that excuse, joking that with so many cooks, it would seem all ISIS did was eat. The men, deserting the fight to run and fight away another time are acting passively but their families, mostly the women freely admit they were ISIS families.

Thus far, the Iraqis are treating their ISIS prisoners much better than the Islamic State showed Iraqi civilians during their occupation.

To read the entire article from NY Times, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikimedia

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation 10.2.2017

A quick workout to start the day early and head off to the rest of our day. We DO Selection here. We don’t get issued our badges and berets, we earn them.

Start off with the basics of pushups, sit-ups, and crunches, then to the bar for V-ups, pull-ups, and dips before a 5-mile run in a mini UBRR test. Remember to stay hydrated and mark your progress in your workout log book.

Training:

More preparation for the UBRR

1 x 1-minute Pushups

1 x 1-minute Sit-ups

1 x 1-minute, Crunches

1 x 1-minute, V-ups

1 x Dips as many as possible to muscle failure (no time limit)

1 x Pullups as many as possible or to muscle failure (no time limit)

5-mile run (maximum 40 minutes)

Stretch well after completion

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation 10.1.2017

The best way to start our Sunday before the sun comes up is our Sunday Ruck. Grab your training partner (for me a bulldog) and hit the trail. A little warm-up and a good long (8-mile) rucksack march. As always be sure to stay hydrated during the ruck march. It should be a habit that will carry over to Selection and training afterward.

Becoming dehydrated during a long training event such as a ruck march or long-range movement is a guarantee for bigger problems and failure, keep sipping on the water during the march.

Training:

Warm up

2 x 20 Pushups

2 x 20 Sit-ups

8-mile rucksack march over varied terrain. Try to keep your pace better than the standard (120 minutes). And mark your times in your workout log book.

Stretch well after completion

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation 9.30.2017

Back in the gym this Saturday morning for a shoulder and back workout. Towel pull-ups if you have no access to ropes or climbing ropes if they are available. Followed by a four-mile run. Log your numbers down in the workout notebook

Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

3 x 10 Lat Pulldowns, rear

3 x 10 Barbell Dead Lift

3 x 10 Wide Grip Pull-ups

3 x 10 Towel Pull-ups

3 x 10 Dumbbell Side Raises

3 x 10 Seated Bent-Over Delt Raise

3 x 10 Dumbbell Shoulder Press

3 x 10 Arnold Dumbbell Press

4-mile run

Stretch well after completion

Remembering PO Michael Monsoor, Navy SEAL MOH Sept. 29, 2006

On this day in 2006, Michael A. Monsoor a Navy SEAL would distinguish himself to be a true selfless hero and willingly gave his life to safeguard his fellow SEAL operators and would later be presented the Medal of Honor.

Monsoor lost his life in during operations against insurgents in Ar Ramadi, Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

He joined the Navy in 2001. After a short duty assignment in Sigonella, Sicily he volunteered for Naval Special Warfare School and was a graduate of Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training from Class 250 on September 2, 2004, as one of the top performers in his class. He did his follow-on advanced SEAL training and graduated in March 2005 and was assigned to Delta Platoon, SEAL Team 3.

In April 2006, SEAL Team 3 was assigned to Ar Ramadi, Iraq to train Iraqi troops. During this time, they frequently came in heavy contact with Iraqi insurgents. SEAL Team 3 during the early months of 2006 killed an estimated 84 insurgents and was also the unit of Chris Kyle, the SEAL depicted in “American Sniper.”

On May 9, Monsoor, a machine gunner and radio operator for his platoon, raced into a street under a tremendous amount of enemy fire to rescue a wounded SEAL. For this action, he was awarded the Silver Star. He was also awarded a Bronze Star with”V” device.

On the 29th of September, Monsoor and the SEALs were involved in heavy fighting with insurgents in Ar Ramadi. They killed one and wounded another. Monsoor, three SEAL snipers, and three Iraqi soldiers took up positions on a rooftop. Civilians were aiding the insurgents and were blocking the road. A mosque’s loudspeaker was calling to all Iraqis to resist the Americans.

Monsoor’s position was one of protecting the two SEALs nearby on the roof from the access. An insurgent below hurled a grenade from the streets below. It hit Monsoor in the chest and bounced to the roof. Without a second’s hesitation, he yelled “Grenade!” and launched himself on top of it, shielding the others from the blast, taking the brunt of it himself. He was seriously injured and died less than 30 minutes later. The two SEALs on either side of him were injured but survived.

During his subsequent funeral back in San Diego, as his body was being carried from the hearse to his grave site, Navy SEALs lined up on each side of the pallbearers’ route. As the coffin passed each SEAL, they slapped down the gold Trident, the SEALs badge, each had removed from his own uniform and embedded it into the wooden coffin. For nearly 30 minutes the slaps were audible from across the cemetery as nearly every SEAL on the West Coast repeated the act. It was a display that deeply moved all in attendance, including President George Bush, who remarked, “The procession went on nearly half an hour, and when it was all over, the simple wooden coffin had become a gold-plated memorial to a hero who will never be forgotten.”

The Department of Defense announced on March 31, 2008, that Master-at-Arms 2d Class Petty Officer Michael A. Monsoor would posthumously receive the Medal of Honor. U.S. President George W. Bush presented the medal to Monsoor’s parents on April 8, 2008, at a ceremony in the White House. In October 2008, Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter announced that DDG-1001, the second ship in the Zumwalt-class of guided missile destroyers, would be named USS Michael Monsoor in his honor.

His award narrative is below:

Petty Officer Michael A. Monsoor, United States Navy, distinguished himself through conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as a Combat Advisor and Automatic Weapons Gunner for Naval Special Warfare Task Group Arabian Peninsula in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom on 29 September 2006. He displayed great personal courage and exceptional bravery while conducting operations in enemy held territory at Ar Ramadi Iraq.

During Operation Kentucky Jumper, a combined Coalition battalion clearance and isolation operation in southern Ar Ramadi, he served as automatic weapons gunner in a combined SEAL and Iraqi Army (IA) sniper overwatch element positioned on a residential rooftop in a violent sector and historical stronghold for insurgents. In the morning, his team observed four enemy fighters armed with AK-47s reconnoitering from roads in the sector to conduct follow-on attacks. SEAL snipers from his roof engaged two of them which resulted in one enemy wounded in action and one enemy killed in action. A mutually supporting SEAL/IA position also killed an enemy fighter during the morning hours. After the engagements, the local populace blocked off the roads in the area with rocks to keep civilians away and to warn insurgents of the presence of his Coalition sniper element. Additionally, a nearby mosque called insurgents to arms to fight Coalition Forces.

In the early afternoon, enemy fighters attacked his position with automatic weapons fire from a moving vehicle. The SEALs fired back and stood their ground. Shortly thereafter, an enemy fighter shot a rocket-propelled grenade at his building. Though well-acquainted with enemy tactics in Ar Ramadi, and keenly aware that the enemy would continue to attack, the SEALs remained on the battlefield in order to carry out the mission of guarding the western flank of the main effort.

Due to expected enemy action, the officer in charge repositioned him with his automatic heavy machine gun in the direction of the enemy’s most likely avenue of approach. He placed him in a small, confined sniper hide-sight between two SEAL snipers on an outcropping of the roof, which allowed the three SEALs maximum coverage of the area. He was located closest to the egress route out of the sniper hide-sight watching for enemy activity through a tactical periscope over the parapet wall. While vigilantly watching for enemy activity, an enemy fighter hurled a hand grenade onto the roof from an unseen location. The grenade hit him in the chest and bounced onto the deck. He immediately leapt to his feet and yelled “grenade” to alert his teammates of impending danger, but they could not evacuate the sniper hide-sight in time to escape harm. Without hesitation and showing no regard for his own life, he threw himself onto the grenade, smothering it to protect his teammates who were lying in close proximity. The grenade detonated as he came down on top of it, mortally wounding him.

Petty Officer Monsoor’s actions could not have been more selfless or clearly intentional. Of the three SEALs on that rooftop corner, he had the only avenue of escape away from the blast, and if he had so chosen, he could have easily escaped. Instead, Monsoor chose to protect his comrades by the sacrifice of his own life. By his courageous and selfless actions, he saved the lives of his two fellow SEALs and he is the most deserving of the special recognition afforded by awarding the Medal of Honor.

Official Citation

MASTER-AT-ARMS SECOND CLASS (SEA, AIR AND LAND) MICHAEL A. MONSOOR
UNITED STATES NAVY
For service set forth in the following

CITATION:

FOR CONSPICUOUS GALLANTRY AND INTREPIDITY AT THE RISK OF HIS LIFE ABOVE AND BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY AS AUTOMATIC WEAPONS GUNNER FOR NAVAL SPECIAL WARFARE TASK GROUP ARABIAN PENINSULA, IN SUPPORT OF OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM ON 29 SEPTEMBER 2006. AS A MEMBER OF A COMBINED SEAL AND IRAQI ARMY SNIPER OVERWATCH ELEMENT, TASKED WITH PROVIDING EARLY WARNING AND STAND-OFF PROTECTION FROM A ROOFTOP IN AN INSURGENT HELD SECTOR OF AR RAMADI, IRAQ, PETTY OFFICER MONSOOR DISTINGUISHED HIMSELF BY HIS EXCEPTIONAL BRAVERY IN THE FACE OF GRAVE DANGER. IN THE EARLY MORNING, INSURGENTS PREPARED TO EXECUTE A COORDINATED ATTACK BY RECONNOITERING THE AREA AROUND THE ELEMENT’S POSITION. ELEMENT SNIPERS THWARTED THE ENEMY’S INITIAL ATTEMPT BY ELIMINATING TWO INSURGENTS. THE ENEMY CONTINUED TO ASSAULT THE ELEMENT, ENGAGING THEM WITH A ROCKET-PROPELLED GRENADE AND SMALL ARMS FIRE. AS ENEMY ACTIVITY INCREASED, PETTY OFFICER MONSOOR TOOK POSITION WITH HIS MACHINE GUN BETWEEN TWO TEAMMATES ON AN OUTCROPPING OF THE ROOF. WHILE THE SEALS VIGILANTLY WATCHED FOR ENEMY ACTIVITY, AN INSURGENT THREW A HAND GRENADE FROM AN UNSEEN LOCATION, WHICH BOUNCED OFF PETTY OFFICER MONSOOR’S CHEST AND LANDED IN FRONT OF HIM. ALTHOUGH ONLY HE COULD HAVE ESCAPED THE BLAST, PETTY OFFICER MONSOOR CHOSE INSTEAD TO PROTECT HIS TEAMMATES. INSTANTLY AND WITHOUT REGARD FOR HIS OWN SAFETY, HE THREW HIMSELF ONTO THE GRENADE TO ABSORB THE FORCE OF THE EXPLOSION WITH HIS BODY, SAVING THE LIVES OF HIS TWO TEAMMATES. BY HIS UNDAUNTED COURAGE, FIGHTING SPIRIT, AND UNWAVERING DEVOTION TO DUTY IN THE FACE OF CERTAIN DEATH, PETTY OFFICER MONSOOR GALLANTLY GAVE HIS LIFE FOR HIS COUNTRY, THEREBY REFLECTING GREAT CREDIT UPON HIMSELF AND UPHOLDING THE HIGHEST TRADITIONS OF THE UNITED STATES NAVAL SERVICE.

SIGNED GEORGE W. BUSH

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation 9.29.2017

Friday morning gym day and what better way to prepare for is homecoming weekend in a lot of places this week than to kick it off with Leg Day. Starting with Squats – front, dumbbell goblet, and barbell, then some lunges and after the weighted sled push. This will build up the strength and endurance to carry the rucksack. And we’ll finish the workout off with a five-mile run

Training:

Continue to prep for the UBRR.

3 x Front Squat 20-15-12 reps (lighter weight)

3 x Goblet Dumbbell Squats 20-15-12 reps (lighter weight)

3 x 10 Barbell Squats

3 x 10 Dumbbell Lunges

3 x 10 Romanian Lunges

3 x Weighted sled push (heavier weight)

5-mile run

Stretch well after completion

SEAL Team, CBS’ New Drama Series Does It Right in Pilot Episode

Sometimes it is a nice thing to be pleasantly surprised. CBS’ new drama series “SEAL Team” had its debut with the pilot episode Wednesday night and from the look of the first showing, they did it right.

The good folks at CBS may have a long-term, viable hit on their hands if they can play their cards right. They’re certainly off to a good start. Why? Because it begins with a very good ensemble cast and the character development has the audience intrigued right off the bat.

David Boreanaz (does it seem like he’s been on tv forever?) is Jason Hayes, the iconic SEAL who is the unquestioned leader of the team and an operator who is struggling with the death of his best friend. He’s becoming frayed around the edges due to his deployment schedule and it has taken a toll on his home life, he’s currently separated from his wife Alana, played ably by Michaela McManus. So the writers have checked the blocks there. But it works because of Boreanaz.

Boreanaz is probably one of the most underrated actors around. One of the reasons for his longevity on the small screen is the fact that he can play the buff operator who can kick ass when he needs to while still having the ability to charm the birds out of the trees with his disarming smile (as when he makes eye contact with his daughter during her recital). He’s this generation’s, James Garner.

The character development works best when the SEAL Team is interacting with each other. I liked that they had the interaction between the SEALs and the support guys as the kind of disdain for Support or straphangers. The pilot was also free from the flag-waving politics that never find their way into the planning phases of operations except in Hollywood. Good job producers.

Hayes and his right-hand man Ray Perry played perfectly by Neil Brown Jr. are so joined at the hip that they can probably finish each other’s sentences. Perry knows Hayes probably better than his wife does, which has been a familiar refrain from every long-suffering Special Operations wife since time immortal.

Perry is the quiet, smart, badass who is not going to push the envelope but has enough juice that he can call out the boss without there being any semblance of insubordination. Perry’s home life is on much more solid ground than Hayes and he has a baby on the way.

Clay Spenser is played by Max Theiriot, he’s the 2nd generation SEAL who is being harshly judged because his father had the audacity to write a book about the SEAL Teams (now that sounds really familiar!). Spenser is trying to earn a spot on the Tier One unit run by Hayes and it is obvious from jump street that the two aren’t going to mesh right away. Spenser is brash and not a little cocky (what Special Operator isn’t?) but when he mouths off a bit too much at the “Big Chief” in the shoot house, the writers may have taken it a bit too far.

While I wasn’t a Navy SEAL, I can’t imagine the “Big Chief” tolerating that much BS. In Special Forces, he’d be sent back down the road with his tail between his legs. But the writers may be just trying to push the narrative that he’s a cocky sod, and it definitely gets the point across.

Jessica Paré plays the CIA analyst assigned to the team, Mandy Ellis. She’s focused on taking out the bad guy ISIS member in the pilot. We don’t see too much of her character in the pilot and what makes her tick. But the writers left the viewer just enough of a tease for the future. In the C-130 after the operation, Hayes and Ellis talk about what went right and wrong and she tells him that it was all in all a good day. Their eyes lingered a bit too long there…. Fodder for an upcoming tryst between the two? It would make for a compelling story line, especially with Hayes’ marriage on the rocks and the problems that it would bring with the two working so closely together.

The action sequences were good but not overdone and there was just enough of the cool guy helmet cam footage to satisfy those Call-of-Duty folks. I especially liked the footage attached to Dita, the team’s Belgian Malinois dog, no she’s not a German Shepherd.

There was a couple of groaners in the pilot but just a few. The scene at the site of the First Communion for Hayes’ daughter where everyone’s phone goes off at the same time has been overdone too many times now and inspired a “ugh, not that” response. And a few of the lines, including the “We Got This” was a bit over the top. I hope that we never talked like that back in the day. Or perhaps it was a slam at noted whistleblower/traitor Chelsea Manning who puts the hashtag #WeGotThis on every one of her Tweets. In that case…good job. We Got This!

Watching from the decidedly much smaller screen in my bedroom, it seems like the producers got the equipment and kit of the operator’s right. However, I’m sure some of our readers watching from the big IMAX screens in their home theaters will pick out a few faux pas in terms of the gear.

Coming into the pilot episode, I’ll admit I was A.) looking forward to this and B.) expecting to be disappointed. But the opposite was true. It is an above average military drama. Perhaps not as gritty as Homeland, but this is network television. But it is trying to depict the SEALs in a true light, they’re regular dudes with a very atypical vocation, And they are trying to depict the Special Operations missions in a true light, with good character development and true to life personal interactions. The characters aren’t cardboard cutouts. If the writers can keep this up….”SEAL Team” will be a hit.

Photo Courtesy: CBS

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation 9.28.2017

Chest and Triceps workout at the gym today before a 5-mile run. Shoot for a time below the standard of 40 minutes. Remember to stretch well before and after and to stay hydrated. Mark your progress down in your workout log book.

Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

3 x 12 Bench Press

3 x 10 Dumbbell Flies

3 x 10 Dumbbell Incline press

3 x 20 Pushups (alternate sets with wide, narrow and shoulder width)

3 x 10 Kip Ups

3 x 20 Sit-ups

3 x 20 Cable Push Downs (rope)

3 x 20 Dips or until muscle failure

5-mile run (40-minute maximum)

Stretch well after completion

Pat Tillman’s Widow Doesn’t Want His Name Invoked in Attempts to Divide

Marie Tillman, the widow of Army Ranger and former NFL player Pat Tillman, says that her husband’s service and death should never be used or politicized in any way that seeks to divide us as a country.

She was speaking about President Trump’s tweet where he referenced the former Arizona Cardinal Tillman and used the hashtag #StandForOurAnthem. Trump had earlier tweeted that NFL owners “should fire the SOBs” who don’t stand for the National Anthem and kneel to protest racial inequality and police brutality. As a result, instead of a handful of players, about 200 decided to take a knee during the Star Spangled Banner prior to Sunday’s NFL games.

Tillman walked away from the NFL to join the Army after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan in 2004.
“As a football player and soldier, Pat inspired countless Americans to unify,” Marie Tillman said. “It is my hope that his memory should always remind people that we must come together. Pat’s service, along with that of every man and woman’s service, should never be politicized in a way that divides us. We are too great of a country for that. Those that serve fight for the American ideals of freedom, justice and democracy. They and their families know the cost of that fight. I know the very personal costs in a way I feel acutely every day.”
“The very action of self-expression and the freedom to speak from one’s heart — no matter those views — is what Pat and so many other Americans have given their lives for. Even if they didn’t always agree with those views. It is my sincere hope that our leaders both understand and learn from the lessons of Pat’s life and death, and also those of so many other brave Americans.”

Thus far, surprisingly so, Tillman’s statement hasn’t induced a return Tweet from the President.

To read the entire article from The USA Today click here:

Photo courtesy Pat Tillman Foundation