[Dave Butz Baby!]

To come back to the original purpose of this post (and not to interrupt the debate), but it appears that the US Government has in fact declared Pat Tillman a hero. He was awarded the Silver Star today for performing his duty "without regard to his personal safety". He returned to an ambush to save the remainder of his platoon who was surrounded by hostile forces.

From the AP...

The Army gave the following account of Tillman's actions:

"Tillman's platoon was split into two sections. Tillman was the team leader of the lead section when the trail section began receiving suppressive mortar and small-arms fire. ... [The] cavernous terrain made it extremely difficult to target enemy positions, and there was no room for the trail element to maneuver out of the kill zone.

Even though his element was out of the area that had come under fire, Tillman "ordered his team to dismount and maneuvered his team up a hill toward the enemy's location," the Army said.

During the battle, he issued "fire commands to take the fight to the enemy on the dominating high ground," the statement continued.

"Only after his team engaged the well-armed enemy did it appear their fires diminished."

Because of Tillman's leadership and his team's efforts, the trail section under fire "was able to maneuver through the ambush to positions of safety without a single casualty," the Army said.

He did save many of his fellow soldiers. This would make him a hero in the traditional sense of the word.