By Mary Paoletti
CSNNE.com
"Fallen Navy SEALs dog could lead Hawkeyes onto field"
I'm glad Jon Tumilson's story found a sports intersect so I could write about it here.
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Tumilson was a United States Navy SEAL. He died, just 35, in the deadliest single loss for U.S. forces in the 10-year war in Afghanistan. Tumilson and 29 other Americans (22 SEALs) were killed when their helicopter was shot down in Kabul. You probably heard about it.
And you might have forgotten about it already.
I wouldn't blame you if you did. There is no Monday Morning Marine column, there are no Army Insiders or Battalion Blogs. It's not a game. And it'd be foolish to compare the obsession with sports to the indifference to soldiers.
But sometimes these worlds share the same atmosphere.
Such is the case with Jon Tumilson. The SEAL "loved his family, his country, his Iowa Hawkeyes and his dog," wrote Harty. Over 200,000 people bore witness via a viral video of Tumilson's funeral, where Tumilson's canine companion Hawkeye laid, mourning beside the casket.
Former Iowa football player Jon Lazar is one of those hundreds of thousands moved by the scene and he wants to honor Tumilson. According to Harty, Lazar contacted his alma mater's football office with a request for Hawkeye to lead the team onto the field for a home game.
It just tears you apart to see that (video), Lazar said. But I thought how great it would be for that dog to lead the Hawkeyes down to the field and to have the announcer tell the story of this dog.
I think everybody would be crying in the stands.
I hope to hell this happens.
Political and religious affiliations vary and change, but the fact there are United States soldiers serving overseas persists. Their duty is to country; the least of ours should be to remember them.
Go Hawkeyes.