Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76Plough Quarterly • Summer 2015 67 crystallized, he was befriended by two brothers and fellow Rangers, Pat and Kevin Tillman. Pat Tillman was known to the world as the professional football player who, after the Twin Towers attack and at the height of his career, gave up millions of dollars to volunteer for military service. Pat Tillman was also, according to Fanning, “the first person to suggest to me that it was possible to stand up to the US military. . . . I am alive today, or at least less damaged, because of Pat Tillman.” As he walked, Fanning carried a heavy pack and a sign that read: “Rory Fanning, who served in the Second Army Ranger Battalion with Pat Tillman, is walking from the Atlantic to the Pacific to raise money for the Pat Tillman Foundation.” Everywhere he was befriended and helped. Reading Fanning’s book, Worth Fighting For, I was confused at first. There was and is an enormous scandal about Pat Tillman, who was killed in April 2004 in Afghanistan by “friendly fire,” that is, by American soldiers. At first, military sources offered the media a concocted story of heroism in the face of the enemy; Till- man’s brother and mother later exposed the lie. Why didn’t Fanning’s sign do likewise? Gradually I began to understand. When Fanning made known to his Ranger superiors that he had become a conscientious objector, officers went out of their way to disgrace and humiliate him. Regulations require that a soldier who claims conscientious objector status must be given noncombatant assign- ments until the claim is decided. In Fanning’s case, he was sent to the Afghan mountains with his unit. He spent his days chopping firewood. No one spoke to him. No place to sleep was provided him and he had to bed down “outside, often in the snow and the mud, by myself with a single blanket.” Finally his discharge as a CO was approved. Fanning came home feeling he had let his country down by quitting the military. He decided to walk across the country because he was feeling “guilt, betrayal, a sense of adventure, ignorance, a desire to be accepted, pride. . . .” Knowing Pat Tillman was his most positive recent experience. He would walk into towns where he knew no one, protected by Pat. Is this nonviolence? I say yes. It is recogniz- ing one’s vulnerability and, donning that vulnerability, confronting the world exposed and unarmed. Peaceful Activism Others pursued nonviolent civil disobedience. Not surprisingly, political activism comes at a cost to one’s personal comfort. But what if one’s effort to be responsible to the wider human family appears to risk the well-being of one’s own spouse, children, or elderly parents? Many activists struggle with such conflicting loyalties. Perhaps that is why the individuals who broke into an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania, and revealed the existence of COINTELPRO kept their identities secret for forty years, as Margaret Rankin, Windswept Tree Image from www.fl ickr.com/people/magprint