Though Pat Tillman died six years ago, a new documentary opening tomorrow shows that questions still linger about the events surrounding his death.
Though Pat Tillman died six years ago, a new documentary opening tomorrow shows that questions still linger about the events surrounding his death.
In the wake of 9/11, NFL linebacker Pat Tillman famously walked away from a multi-million dollar contract with the Arizona Cardinals to enlist in the U.S. Army. He served in the second battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment and was deployed to Iraq. He was later deployed to Afghanistan, where was killed on April 22, 2004, while protecting a private under his command.
The military first claimed he’d died in firefight with Taliban militants. Months later — after General McChrystal helped expedite Tillman being awarded a Silver Star in time for a nationally televised memorial service — the truth emerged: Tillman was killed in an incident of friendly fire.
Ironically, the incident and the military’s attempt to deceive both the Tillman family and the American public in the weeks that followed have in large part kept Tillman’s legacy alive. He became the subject of Congressional hearings in 2007. In 2009, best-selling author Jon Krakauer published “Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman,” a biography that explored Tillman’s complex character even as it provided the most comprehensive portrait to date of what occurred on that Afghan battlefield six years ago. When the Obama administration fired General McChrystal earlier this year over remarks he’d made during a Rolling Stone interview, many revisited his role in the Tillman cover-up.
Tomorrow, “The Tillman Story” opens in theaters across the country. Made with the cooperation of the Tillman family, the documentary shows their struggle to learn a truth still not fully known, as well as the patriotic myth-making frenzy of the U.S. media in the immediate aftermath of Tillman’s death.
Tillman remains, of course, no less a hero for dying by the hands of a fellow soldier rather than the Taliban. And with the War in Afghanistan approaching its ninth year, men and women are still sacrificing their lives for the same cause that motivated the former football player. In the years since his death, Tillman’s story has only grown in complexity and import.
