Where+Men+Win+Glory+by+Danny+I

Danny Ives

Journal #1 The first quarter of the novel of __Where Men Win Glory__, by John Krakauer, has discussed two topics; the adolescence and teenage years of Patrick Tillman and the situation in Afghanistan. The Afghan political situation had historically been extremely violent. The United States supported the rebels, known as the Mujahideen, with C.I.A weapons, stinger missiles, and handbooks on how to create bombs. They used these weapons and training to fight off their current government and the U.S. rivals, the Soviet Union. After the Mujahideen overcame the war, the U.S. abandoned them. Obviously, this enraged the freedom fighters, especially a young, rich, Saudi Arabian man, Osama bin Laden. With this grudge, Osama created, what we know as a terrorist group, Al-Qaeda. He developed the name because it was the name of the C.I.A training facilities set up in Afghanistan. When I read this portion of the book, it opened up my knowledge of the conflict we face now. Krakauer's use of imagery and facts taught me a lot about the history of the situation in Afghanistan, especially the U.S. involvement. I now realized that the United States had a very, very heavy influence on the terrorists/extremist group. The Second half of this quarter of the book reflects on the early years of Pat Tillman's life. He describes Tillman as a determined, stubborn, aggressive, wild, honest young man. He got into football when he tried out for the varsity baseball team and was denied a spot by the coaches. They told him that he could play on the freshmen team, but Pat wouldn't accept that. He decided to take up football, even though by the football coach he was told he was too small. That did not stop him from working harder and getting better at the sport. By senior year, Pat had become a strong five-feet and eleven inches man. He weighed one hundred and ninety-five pounds. He led his high school team to a Coastal Conference Championship (one the most competitive conferences in California). He was also one of two players elected player of the year, but after the season was over only three school approached Tillman with scholarships. Those schools were; Brigham Young University, San Jose State University, and Arizona State University. Pat decided with ASU because he felt he could impact the most there. Though his scholarship was at risk because during his high school team's playoff run Pat had gotten in a fight. He was defending his friend and picked the biggest of the foes and beat him to serious injuries. Pat was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, his body. Fortunately for Pat, the judge chose to drop the charges down to a misdemeanor and Tillman got to keep his scholarship. When I read about this part of Tillman's life. It really inspired me. It was a crystal clear example of how hard work pays off tremendously. It also showed me that once you get those benefits how easily you can lose them, like with Pat and his court case. He was very close to losing all that he had worked for, just for defending his friend. I really enjoyed reading this quarter of the book it was one of the first biographical books i have read that has been a real page turner.
 * [|Patrick Tillman's high school football career]
 * The Mujahideen[[image:mujahideen.jpg width="269" height="221" align="right" caption="Some of The Mujahideen Rebels"]]
 * U.S. aid to the Mujahideen
 * Pat Tillman's agressive nature
 * [|U.S. involvement in the Middle East]

Journal #2 Thus far in the novel, Pat Tillman has begun the rest of his life. He finished up his thirty day jail sentencing from his misdemeanor charges. He has begun his football career at Arizona State, playing defensive safety. Pat went on to become a legend on the Arizona State campus with his outstanding play. Every year, Tillman helped bring the Sun Devils a winning record, though he never did win the National Championship. After he graduated college, Patrick Tillman declared for the National Football League draft. He was selected by the Arizona Cardinals as the 226th pick of the draft. He was extremely happy to be able to stay in Arizona, where he had become a household name. He also got to play with his fellow Sun Devil teammate, Jake "The Snake" Plummer, who signed with the Cardinals a year prior to Pat. Through all of this fame, Pat was still devoted to Marie. He claims that he could not live without her. He was also able to run a marathon and a triathlon in his two of his first offseasons. He was the first player to do that. Pat's short NFL career was very successful. He was known for being one of the hardest hitting safeties in the league and was considered one of the best safeties in the league, despite his lack of "super" speed. He was many times written about by sportswriters as being underrated. Then on September 11, 2001, an event struck that would impact the rest of Tillman's life, the attack on the world trade center towers. After that, Pat's mind went back-and-forth about the possibility of joining the army with his brother Kevin, who was a minor league baseball player. Soon after that season Pat proposed to Marie and the two got married. After their honeymoon in Bora Bora, Pat and Kevin made the final decision of enlisting in the Army Rangers. After reading half of the book, I am completely hooked. Krakauer has provided me, the reader, with an abundance of background information to make me feel like I am Pat Tillman, but at the same time informs me of things going on around the world the influenced the turn that Pat has made. Another thing is how the story has now taken a sharp turn for Tillman; he has decided to throw all of his athletic accomplishments and money away, to join the army and help defend our country after the attacks of 9/11. This alone, to me, is one of the greatest acts of patriotism I have ever learned about. At this point Pat has bemedia type="youtube" key="kv4s3fn8jDc" height="390" width="480" align="right"come a true American hero.
 * emotional effect of 9/11
 * wounded and dead from the 9/11 attacks
 * Tillman's NFL career
 * Tillman's college career
 * Training requirements for marathons and triathlons



Journal #3 Moving into the third quarter of __Where Men Win Glory__, the author, John Krakauer, has come to now focus on Pat's military service with his brother. During his service in Afghanistan he comes to witness the growing hostility and hatred towards American troops. Also I read in this portion about all of the missions Pat and Kevin went on. Both of the brothers had a negative disposition towards many of them, but still carried them out in order to serve their country. One of the missions towards the end of the reading resulted in the attack of Pat's squadron by, what appear to be hostiles, but are really their own side. All through this time he has spent in the military, Pat has been battling with his internal emotions of not getting the chance to be with his wife, Marie. This eats him up inside, but he feels a overwhelming amount of patriotism to keep pushing him forward. I did not enjoy this portion of the book as much as I had the first half. It was a bit repetitive and not as much entertaining. It was informitive on the culture of the American troops in Afghanistan thought. It also got spiked up a little bit at the end of the quarter, when the squads went into a friendly fire fight.
 * long distant relationship with members of the military
 * friendly fire
 * hostility towards American soldiers
 * Jihad/Jihadists
 * Prisoners of War in the Afghan War/War on Terror

Journal #4 The end of Where Men Win Glory was a very controversial and emotional ride. It starts off with Pat was with his partner in a Afghan town when they came under fire from what seemed to be enemy forces. Pat's partner was wounded, but to everyone's horror, Pat was shot and killed. It turns out that they had not even come in contact with enemy forces, Pat was killed by his fellow soldiers. This is called friendly fire. The news was hidden from his brother, Kevin, for awhile. Once one of the soldiers felt he had to tell him, Kevin was just distraught. He was so angry, fusterated, sad, and confused that the doctor had to make sure he removed all weapons off of him so he didnt hurt someone. When Marie found out she was shocked, but had even more concern for the well-being of Kevin, who has always been looked over by Pat. The worst part was that the government covered up his death. They awarded him a silver star medal for being killed by enemy forces in battle. In 2007 the government announced the cover-up and told the public what had really happened. After finishing the novel, I really enjoyed it. It was one of the best non-fiction pieces I have read. I enjoyed the last quarter of it, but I feel talking about the controversy of the cover-up of his death somewhat left me with a bad taste of it all. I would have liked to see the story more focused on the accomplishments of Pat, rather than the conflict over his death. In the end, Pat Tillman was a tragic hero. He had many heroic qualities about him like his hard work ethic, his kindness, and his love for other people. He had a tragic flaw, which was his hubris. He felt he could do anything. He gurranteed Marie he could go to war and come back alive and perfectly well. Ultimately, that lead to his downfall, his death. Pat Tillman was a true American hero.
 * [|Casualties of the War in Afghanistan][[image:lt._mcchrystal.jpg width="337" height="361" align="right"]]
 * Cover-up of Tillman's death
 * [|Captain of Tillman's squadron]
 * [|John Krakauer]
 * newsreport on his death