Pat Tillman

Following the events of September 11th, 2001 Pat Tillman mused how unimportant football was in the grand scheme of things and ultimately walked away from football and enlisted in the military in 2002, as per the New York Post. Tillman wrote that he felt a calling to join the military, though he was an atheist alongside most of his family. Interestingly, Tillman also admired Noam Chomsky. 

Tillman would serve in the Iraq war, which he dubbed "fucking illegal," as well as in Afghanistan. Tillman would be killed by friendly fire while in Afghanistan in 2004, despite having his arms raised, waving them in surrender - a "clear violation of the rules of engagement" and "not an accident" according to Pat's brother Kevin. Even more suspicious is the fact that Tillman was likely around 10-38 yards away when he was shot and had three bullet holes in his forehead, leaving doctors puzzled. Apparently, the medical evidence did not match up with the scenario that was described. Tillman's notebook, uniform, and body armor would be burned. Army Spc. Bryan O’Neal, a ranger who saw Tillman hit with friendly fire, was told by higher-ups to conceal the information and that he would get in trouble if he shared the information with Pat's brother Kevin. The Army initially said that Tillman was killed by enemy gunfire, and this is what then-president George W. Bush announced and what the family was told. Tillman was even awarded a Silver Star for his apparent bravery and heroism. The military's initial investigation into his death which called for an investigation by the Army Criminal Investigation Command was buried and they went with the fabricated account of Tillman's death, as per The Intercept. It wasn't until a month after Tillman's death that his family was told he had died of friendly fire, leading them to believe that his death was deliberately covered up to prevent the nation and public opinion from turning against the Iraq War and War in Afghanistan. A report from the Inspector General's office found that critical errors, inaccuracies, and misunderstandings were made in reporting Pat Tillman's death - coincidence? This report also provides a pretty good timeline of events. 

When speaking in front of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in 2007, Kevin Tillman would accuse the military of ‘‘intentional falsehoods’’ and ‘‘deliberate and careful misrepresentations’’ in portraying his brother's death in Afghanistan as the result of heroic engagement with the enemy instead of friendly fire. He would go on to say "We believe this narrative was intended to deceive the family but more importantly the American public." Kevin would call the military's initial reports "deliberate and calculated lies." Kevin speculated whether the military lied about Tillman's cause of death to prevent from undermining support for the war:

"Revealing that Pat's death was a fratricide would have been yet another political disaster during a month already swollen with political disasters and a brutal truth that the American public would undoubtedly find unacceptable. So the facts needed to be suppressed. An alternative narrative had to be constructed. Crucial evidence was destroyed including Pat's uniform, equipment and notebook. The autopsy was not done according to regulation, and a field hospital report was falsified. An initial investigation completed in 8 to 10 days before testimony could be changed or manipulated and which hit disturbingly close to the mark disappeared into thin air and was conveniently replaced by another investigation with more palatable findings. This freshly manufactured narrative was then distributed to the American public, and we believe the strategy had the intended effect. It shifted the focus from the grotesque torture at Abu Ghraib and a downward spiral of an illegal act of aggression to a great American who died a hero's death."

 In 2006, Kevin Tillman wrote this document I suggest you read. Pat's father was interviewed by The Washington Post in 2005 and stated that "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." In 2006, Tillman's mother was interviewed by Sports Illustrated and said "They attached themselves to his virtue and then threw him under the bus. They had no regard for him as a person. He'd hate to be used for a lie. I don't care if they put a bullet through my head in the middle of the night. I'm not stopping." I would also recommend reading this article from SFGate written in 2005 and this article from The Mercury News originally published in 2007.  

The prevailing theory is that as Pat Tillman's politics and opposition to the war in Iraq - seeing it as a criminal act based on lies - started getting reported on, the American military had him assassinated out of fear that with the fame and notoriety he had, his critiques would have been bad press. So to use the life of a man killed in friendly fire whose death the military would cover up and lie about, even to the man's family, to justify standing for the flag and "respecting the military" seems kinda cringe. This is something even his widow has spoken about before.