The April 28 issue of University of Massachusetts-Amherst’s Daily Collegian featured a column written by grad student Rene Gonzalez that denounced former Arizona Cardinal-turned-Army Ranger Pat Tillman for being “a G.I. Joe guy who got what was coming to him.” Tillman was killed April 22 in action while on a patrol in Afghanistan on the Pakistani border. Needless to say, the column immediately became the subject of national scrutiny and disgust fell upon the periodical for having published the piece.

Gonzalez used his column as a platform to denounce American invasions in Iraq and Afghanistan. The author went on to say, “”[Tillman’s death] was not heroism, it was prophetic idiocy.”

While I cannot overstate how disgusted I am with the diction that Gonzalez selected to state his point about the American presence as “a foreign invading army,” I feel that he crossed the line by dismissing Tillman’s individual heroism. Rather, shouldn’t readers be asking what makes Tillman more heroic than other fallen servicemen? The article deserves every bit of the criticism that it has generated, but much of that condemnation is misguided.

Those who caught any of the media frenzy surrounding Tillman’s death were undoubtedly informed immediately that Tillman turned down a $3.6-million contract with the Cardinals to join the Army. Why does his sacrificed salary come up so fast in the discussion of his death? Clearly, as a fallen professional sports icon, he attracts more press than other, less renowned soldiers who don’t return home alive, but is that the only reason?

It feels like the media emphasis on Tillman’s decision to forgo a multimillion dollar contract in favor of military service is the qualifier for being a greater hero than any of the other hundreds of American dead since 9/11, and this is wrong.

When Tillman opted to take off the Cardinals helmet in favor of the Army Ranger uniform, he stated that he wished to be treated equally with every other Army Ranger. Until his death, this request was honored.

Now, the Army has promoted Tillman posthumously from corporal to specialist. Under normal circumstances, military promotions are not awarded for achievements or actions, but because the person being promoted displays promise of improving as a soldier. Apparently, Tillman’s case is different, despite his request at the onset of his military career.

Of course, it wouldn’t be in the American spirit to imply that any soldier returning from war is not a hero, but Tillman continues to be the subject of much more national attention than any other soldier coming home.

What about the guy who left his job making $50,000 a year and his family, only to suffer the same fate? I haven’t heard as much about him, or any other deceased soldier.

The positive side of the coverage surrounding Tillman’s demise is that people can finally put a name and a face that they recognize with the idea of American dead overseas. Hearing about a group of soldiers who perished in battle has become an all-too-familiar aspect of the daily news, it seems, but the coverage limits our understanding of the lives being lost to military file photos and a name. There is no mention of what these people’s lives were like outside of the military. The result is a definite detachment from the reality of war and the loss of life. To this day, the media is reluctant to shed light on the total number of Americans whose lives were lost in Afghanistan. Rarely does the public hear anything besides the relatively low numbers of daily or weekly casualties. What about the more than 740 fallen Americans in Iraq? Why do their lives not receive the same attention or grief that Tillman’s has generated?

There is a tragic double standard that America ignores every day. Would the country feel the same way about war if each man and woman that perished while serving the country received as much attention as Tillman? If news networks dedicated entire, hour-long time slots to vigils for each soldier, and if eBay began advertising the sale of those people’s belongings and memorabilia, what would be the effect?

Tillman is a hero, but he is no greater than any of the other American soldiers whose lives were sacrificed in the line of duty while avenging the attacks of 9/11. U-Mass-Amherst Daily Collegian columnist Gonzalez overstepped the bounds of his argument by rejecting Tillman’s heroism, but it might serve the rest of America well to observe the imbalance of reporting over his death. Tillman’s is a face that can finally be put to all of the names of soldiers who won’t come home from battle, but his role in the military remains limited to that of an Army Ranger, regardless of his domestic athletic fame.