Pat Tillman was an all-american boy, played safety for the Arizona Cardinals, and was pretty good at it too. Not to mention he was extremely handsome, loved his wife and his brothers, and most importantly loved his country. He was the jock that was nice to the nerds. You wanted to hate him but he was too nice not to love. After 9/11 he and his younger brother decided that they needed to fight for their country and signed up for the Army Rangers. This was a big deal. Tillman had everything going for him: millions of dollars per year, a health plan that doesn't have to cover getting shot and the ability to go home every night. America respected him that much more for giving up all that to fight terrorism. Sadly, on April 22, 2004, Pat Tillman was killed in the line of duty while serving in Afghanistan.
The army awarded his family the silver star for Tillman's heroic actions on the day of his death, including maneuvering his men up a hill under enemy fire and directly saving the lives of his men. Unfortunately, it was all lies. After crying out, "Why are they shooting at me? I'm Pat fucking Tillman!" Pat Tillman was killed by friendly fire, in an area where the presence of enemy combatants is still debated. I find it incredibly heart wrenching that not only was Pat Tillman's head blown completely off by what I assume was a .50 Caliber machine gun, but his younger brother arrived on the scene just ten minutes after and was lied to even then.
The army wanted to cover up the friendly fire story. They convinced almost everyone, but the family did some digging and uncovered the truth. The documentary spends a good amount of time on this aspect, showing how the cover up went all the way to Donald Rumsfeld, maybe even President Bush. What the family really was peeved about was that the government used Tillman's death as a propaganda tool for the war, I admit, I'd be pretty mad too.
The Tillman Story is a very good documentary, but it tries to do too many things at once. They show so many aspects of Tillman's life that and cover up that its hard to stay grounded. If you see it you'll know what I mean. It gets very disjointed and can even become a propaganda tool in itself, but I am sure that's not what they intended.
I just know that war is a horrible thing and his death was as unnecessary as it is sad. He paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country and this documentary helps us take a moment to remember and respect that.
-Christopher O'Connell
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