Prince Harry/Pat Tillman Award Outrage Isn’t Rooted In Facts Or Common Sense | HOOKSTEAD

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People need to relax with the outrage about Prince Harry receiving the Pat Tillman Award For Service.

Many people, including Tillman’s mother, have been up in arms about the fact that Harry will be given the award at the ESPYs, and I’m really struggling to wrap my head around the outrage for one very simple reason:

Harry is as qualified as anyone who has ever received the award when actually looking at the facts.

Outrage over Prince Harry receiving the Pat Tillman Award for Service doesn’t make sense

Let me start off by saying that I’m not a fan of Meghan Markle or Prince Harry. I’m an American, and I don’t care about what the British royal family does. However, facts are facts, and the fact of the matter is that the backlash shouldn’t be treated seriously.

A lot of the outrage started when Pat McAfee ripped into the decision from ESPN. It was off to the races from there.

“Why do the ESPY’s do this sh*t,” McAfee asked after news broke at the end of June. You can watch the now-viral segment below.

Since those comments from McAfee – who I truly do like – people have been beating up on Prince Harry left and right. It’s time to hit the brakes and dissect some facts.

ESPN gives the award to “to a person with a strong connection to sports who has served others in a way that echoes the legacy of the former NFL player and U.S. Army Ranger, Pat Tillman.”

The former Cardinals safety famously left the NFL to enlist in the Army Rangers after 9/11. He was later killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan. Can you think of someone who embodies that spirit more than a man who could have avoided the war in Afghanistan, but instead chose to go not once, but twice?

Due to his royal status, Prince Harry easily could have found a military role that didn’t get him within 1,000 miles of a combat zone and nobody would have batted an eye.

That’s not what he did. Instead, Prince Harry served two tours in Afghanistan, and engaged in direct action with terrorist fighters. In his first deployment in a ground role, the member of the British royal family engaged the enemy with machine gun fire and conducted patrols.

His second deployment was far more impressive. He returned in 2012 as a co-pilot and gunner on an Apache attack helicopter. Being in an Apache makes you a bullet magnet for the enemy. Helicopter pilots have an incredibly difficult and high stakes job where the enemy will fire rockets and guns at you at every possible opportunity. Yet, he laid waste to the enemy in that role.

Prince Harry believes his kill count from the Apache was 25 terrorist fighters over the course of six combat operations. The number is likely 100% accurate or close to the real number due to the fact Apache helicopters carry high tech cameras that allow the pilots to re-watch their kills – something Harry admitted to doing.

On the military front alone, Prince Harry showed incredible courage by going on multiple deployments and actually killing terrorists – something I imagine many of the people complaining haven’t ever come close to doing.

While Prince Harry’s post-military life has involved a lot of drama with his family and wife, he’s also responsible for helping veterans with the Invictus Games.

The Invictus Games is an event dedicated to help wounded veterans recover and heal, both physically and mentally. Through different sports, veterans from different countries are reminded just how badass they can be.

Grifting in the veterans charity sphere is off the charts. It’s honestly embarrassing and downright shameful. The Invictus Games are one of the organizations that stands out above the rest. T.A.P.S., The Special Operations Care Fund (SOC-F), and Warriors Heart are three more than I’d encourage people to support.

In what world does a man who killed terrorists at a level most soldiers can’t dream of and then dedicates his time to helping wounded service members not qualify under the standard set forth by ESPN to receive the award?

He doesn’t just qualify. The British royal might be the most qualified person to ever win the Pat Tillman Award for Service.

So, what is really behind the outrage that can justify it? One of the issues is that Pat Tillman’s mother isn’t a fan of the move.

“I am shocked as to why they would select such a controversial and divisive individual to receive the award,” Mary told the Daily Mail after the decision was made.

Mary is obviously welcome to feel however she’d like. After all, it’s named after her son. I’m not going to judge her opinion one way or another. What I will say is death changes some people. That’s even truer when that death came as the result of a war or extreme violence. I’ve seen it up close through family and friends. For that reason alone, I empathize greatly with Mary Tillman, but that doesn’t mean Prince Harry isn’t qualified.

Is it possible that people are upset because he’s not an American? Possibly, but that would be inconsistent thinking. Manchester United player Marcus Rashford, who is English, earned the award in 2021 for helping to fight hunger. Rashford never killed terrorists and isn’t American. Why would he be qualified, but Harry wouldn’t be? It’s not consistent at all.

Furthermore, even if Prince Harry had been the only non-American to receive the award, I still wouldn’t have a problem with it. The United Kingdom is America’s greatest ally, and it’s not particularly close. We share intelligence through Five Eyes, our military alliance is second to none and the U.K.’s black ops unit – 22 SAS – even does exchange programs with our own Tier One black ops elements.

When we go to war, the British march with us. There’s no country on the planet that has been as willing and eager to fight and shed blood right next to the USA more than the U.K., and Prince Harry helped kill the people who would have targeted American service members in Afghanistan. 

With all due respect, whether Prince Harry is an American or not means nothing to me. He earned the right to walk among Americans the moment he risked his life and spilled the blood of the enemy in a close-air-support role to help our guys on the ground.

I don’t personally care about Prince Harry at all, but I do care about facts. You can dislike someone all you want, but there are few people walking the planet who have done more to kill bad guys and help veterans than Prince Harry. Let’s dial back the outrage, and let common sense and logic rule the day. Let me know what you think at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.