PARIS OUT OF JAIL; AF COP IS DEAD
As I waited with baited breath for news that Paris Hilton had been release from that draconian dungeon called the LA County Sheriff’s jail I received a sad e-mail. I am on many current and former Air Force cop’s e-mail lists. Whenever something happens in the Security Forces cop community I start getting multiple messages spreading the news, good or bad.
As Paris was sitting in jail working on her multi-million dollar deal for the blow-by-blow account of her time in jail, A1C Jason Nathan, a 22 year old Air Force cop, was patrolling the roads of Iraq and helping train Iraqi police and military troops. He was stationed in England at one of our air bases and had been deployed “down range” to defend Air Force assets in the desert. I understand Paris recently went to some business opening in Australia and was paid over $2 million for her appearance. When A1C Nathan when “down range” he got a couple of hundred extra dollars for hazard duty pay. Paris got a whole wardrobe of clothes for her trip. A1C Nathan got three sets of desert camouflage battle uniforms and some new boots. Paris flew down on a chartered aircraft with her entourage. A1C Nathan flew into the desert with 200 of his closest Airmen friends. Upon arriving Paris went to her five star hotel and A1C Nathan went to his tent. Paris had room service and A1C Nathan got to eat in the chow hall when he was not on patrol, other wise he ate MRE combat meals while scanning the terrain for bad guys who wanted to kill him.
I am sure there are a few mothers in the US who, because of her negative influence on their daughters, feel towards Paris the way the Muslim insurgents feel toward American troops. The difference is no one is going to detonate an IED next to Paris’ limo. Lord knows no one wants anything to happen to the cash-cow. You see Paris does not really produce anything other than “Paris.” Unlike Elvis Presley, Patsy Cline or John Wayne who recorded songs and/or made movies that can still be seen or heard to this day, Paris is only good for business as long as she is alive. Like Anna Nicole Smith, Paris’ only talent is being herself. That is not marketable after she leaves this world.
There was nothing really special about A1C Nathan. He did not make records or appear on TV. He was a young black man from Macon, GA who joined the US Air Force to be a cop, to serve, protect and defend his country. The e-mail message I got the day Paris was sprung from jail was that A1C Nathan had been killed in action. He was patrolling in a Hummer when an explosive device went off next to his vehicle and he died serving his country. I did not see anything on the news about his death; I guess Paris was more in need of the media coverage than the death of some kid from Georgia.
A1C Nathan was the sixth Air Force cop to die in this war. My old career field had not lost a cop in combat since Vietnam. Sadly we are making up for lost time way too rapidly. I never met Jason Nathan but when I got the e-mail telling me of his death I truly though I was going to cry. I am not happy with the way my big Air Force is using air grounds-men in this war. We do not have the hardened vehicles and the combat training that it takes to be infantry, yet the Department of Defense sees fit to use Airmen in combat areas they were never intended to be deployed to.
“We buried another veteran today. It seems all my life it happens that way. This one, a young cop in the prime of his life. Rest well defender, you gave all, in your last fight”. To the family of A1C Jason Nathan I am so sorry for your loss. Jason stood up and was counted when his country needed him. I know that he will be memorialized at the Security Forces Museum on Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. Years from now when Paris’ has burned out both ends of her candle, new cops as well as the old veteran cops will remember what Jason did for his Air Force and his country. A life needs to count for something other than just being famous.
27 June 2007
Major Van Harl USAF Ret.
