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Patrick Daniel Tillman (November 6, 1976 – April 22, 2004) was an American football player who, in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks, abruptly left his professional sports career and enlisted in the United States Army. He served in Iraq and, later, in Afghanistan where he was killed. Reports in the media of his death and the background of his sacrifice symbolized a heroic image in the minds of many Americans.
However, Tillman's death became a national controversy after The Pentagon disclosed to the Tillman family over a year after his death, on May 28, 2005, that he died as a result of a friendly fire incident. The family and other critics allege the Pentagon delayed the disclosure for weeks after Tillman's memorial service out of a desire to protect the image of the U.S. armed forces.
Biography
Born in San Jose, California, Tillman started his college career at the linebacker position for Arizona State University in 1994, when he secured the last remaining scholarship for the team. Tillman excelled as a linebacker at Arizona State, despite being relatively small for the position at 5-feet 11-inches (1.80 m) tall. As a senior he was voted the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year. Academically, Tillman majored in marketing and graduated in three and a half years with a 3.84 GPA. He was an announced atheist.
In the 1998 NFL Draft, Tillman was selected as the 226th pick by the Arizona Cardinals. Tillman moved over to play the safety position in the NFL, and started 10 of 16 games in his rookie season.
After the September 11 2001 attacks, Tillman turned down a $3.6 million contract from the Cardinals to enlist in the U.S. Army, along with his brother Kevin, who had played minor league baseball professionally in the Cleveland Indians organization. The two brothers completed training for the elite Army Ranger school in late 2002, and were assigned to the second battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment in Fort Lewis, Washington. Both Pat and Kevin were deployed to the Middle East as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Tillman was subsequently redeployed to Afghanistan, where, on April 22 2004, he was killed in action by friendly fire while on patrol. His unit was attacked in an apparent ambush on a road outside of the village of Sperah about 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Khost, near the Pakistan border. An Afghan militia soldier was killed and two other Rangers were injured as well. The U.S. Department of Defense concluded that Pat Tillman's death was due to friendly fire aggravated by the intensity of the firefight. It was later learned that in fact, no hostile forces were involved in the firefight, and that two allied groups fired on each other in confusion over an exploded mine or remote controlled bomb. U.S. Army Special Operations Command, however, initially claimed there was an exchange with hostile forces. A later investigation conducted by Brigadier General Jones found that the Army was slow to correct the story of a hostile exchange of fire after learning that it was false.
Tillman was the first professional football player to be killed in combat since the death of Bob Kalsu of the American Football League's Buffalo Bills, who died in the Vietnam War in 1970. Tillman was posthumously promoted from Specialist to Corporal. He also received posthumous Silver Star and Purple Heart medals. He is survived by his wife, Marie.
Controversial criticisms
In a column published on April 28 2004 in the University of Massachusetts student newspaper, Rene Gonzalez, a graduate student, wrote that Tillman got what he deserved for being a "macho man". The student later apologized after a barrage of adverse national media coverage.
A May 3, 2004 strip by far left-wing political cartoonist Ted Rall distributed by Universal Press Syndicate portrayed Tillman as a misled "idiot" who had enlisted to "kill Arabs". A year later, in another cartoon dated May 21 2005, under the titles "Here's where we'll get more troops" and "Reanimate dead soldiers", a drill sergeant shouts to a uniformed living dead, "And duck the friendly fire this time, soldier Zombie." Later, after revelations of Tillman's privately held antiwar sentiments became public, Rall said he was wrong to have made such assumptions about Tillman's motives.
To these comments, conservative columnist Ben Johnson replied in FrontPageMag.com that "with the body barely cold, the Left has begun demonizing the late Pat Tillman" ... "For most Americans, noble service would qualify as a national hero, but it has unleashed a torrent of hatred on the Left.... It is hardly surprising that this kind of rhetoric is found – in the midst of a war, no less – on the Left and on college campuses."
Friendly fire controversy
A report described in the Washington Post on May 4, 2005 (prepared upon the request of Tillman's family) by Brig. Gen. Gary M. Jones revealed that in the days immediately following Tillman's death, U.S. Army investigators were aware that Tillman was killed by friendly fire. Jones reported that senior Army commanders, including Gen. John Abizaid, knew of this fact within days of the shooting, but nevertheless approved the awarding of the Silver Star, Purple Heart, and a posthumous promotion. The citation report accompanying these awards said that Tillman was killed by enemy forces and contained a detailed account of the alleged battle which Army leadership knew had never taken place.
Jones reported that members of Tillman's unit burned his body armor and uniform in an apparent attempt to hide the fact that he was killed by friendly fire. Several soldiers were subsequently punished for their actions by being removed from their Ranger unit. Jones believed that Tillman should retain his medals and promotion, since he intended to engage the enemy, and behaved heroically.
Tillman's family was not informed of the finding that he was killed by friendly fire until weeks after his memorial service, although at least some senior Army officers knew of that fact prior to the service. Tillman's parents have sharply criticized the Army's handling of the incident; they charge that the Army was more concerned about protecting its image and its recruiting efforts than about telling the truth. His mother, Mary Tillman, told the Washington Post:
- The fact that he was the ultimate team player and he watched his own men kill him is absolutely heartbreaking and tragic. The fact that they lied about it afterward is disgusting.
Tillman's father Patrick Tillman Sr., was incensed by the coverup of the cause of his son's death, which he attributed to a conscious decision by the leadership of the U.S. Army to protect the Army's image:
- After it happened, all the people in positions of authority went out of their way to script this. They purposely interfered with the investigation, they covered it up. I think they thought they could control it, and they realized that their recruiting efforts were going to go to hell in a handbasket if the truth about his death got out. They blew up their poster boy,"
He also blamed high-ranking Army officers for presenting "outright lies" to the family and to the public.
Later, Tillman's father suggested in a letter to the Washington Post that the Army hierarchy's purported mistakes were part of a pattern of conscious misconduct:
- With respect to the Army's reference to 'mistakes in reporting the circumstances of death': those 'mistakes' were deliberate, calculated, ordered (repeatedly) and disgraceful -- conduct well beneath the standard to which every soldier in the field is held."
He also alleged that the soldiers who had burned Tillman's body armor had done so on the direct orders of their superiors.
These complaints and allegations led the Pentagon's Inspector General to open a further inquiry into Tillman's death in August 2005.
Anti-war Revelations
In the September 25, 2005 edition of the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper, a front page story revealed Tillman's views were more complex than the hard-charging warrior portrayed by the mainstream media. Reporter Robert Collier wrote Tillman was:
- ...a fiercely independent thinker who enlisted, fought and died in service to his country yet was critical of President Bush and opposed the war in Iraq, where he served a tour of duty. He was an avid reader whose interests ranged from history books on World War II and Winston Churchill to works of leftist Noam Chomsky, a favorite author.
Legacy
After his death, the Pat Tillman Foundation was established to carry forward Tillman's legacy by inspiring and supporting those striving for positive change in themselves and the world around them. A highway bypass around the Hoover Dam will have a bridge bearing Tillman's name. When completed in 2008, the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge will span the Colorado River between Nevada and Arizona.
The Cardinals retired his number 40 and Arizona State did the same for the number 42 he wore with the Sun Devils. The Cardinals said they will also name the plaza surrounding their new stadium, currently under construction in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, "Pat Tillman Freedom Plaza."
Pat Tillman's high school, Leland High School in San Jose, California, also renamed their football field after him.
Investigation into death
On March 4, 2006 the U.S. Defense Department inspector general directed the Army to open a criminal investigation of Tillman's death. The Army's Criminal Investigative Division will determine if Tillman's death was the result of negligent homicide.
External links
- 8 minute video highlighting Tillman's life
- Editorial: Facing Up to the Tragedy of War, New York Times, May 24, 2005
- Pat Tillman Foundation
- Tillman's sports page
- Criticism of the criticism of Tillman
- Further criticism of Tillman
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/a-coverup-at-the-highest_b_7878.html
- http://www.freezerbox.com/archive/blog.php?id=122
- Links, Picture and Biography
- Kiss the Sun (A Song for Pat Tillman)
- http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/05/04/SPG5K6FD091.DTL