Pat Tillman

Pat Tillman (born November 6, 1976, San Jose, California, U.S.—died April 22, 2004, near Sperah, Afghanistan) was an American football player who left a lucrative National Football League (NFL) career playing for the Arizona Cardinals to enlist in the U.S. Army after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and was killed in a friendly-fire incident during a tour of duty in Afghanistan. Authorities seeking to bolster the narrative of Tillman’s life and death as those of an American hero initially indicated that he was killed by enemy forces.

Tillman played football in high school and won a football scholarship to attend Arizona State University. He excelled there as both a student and a linebacker for the Sun Devils. He helped the team defeat defending national champion University of Nebraska in 1996 and later that season to win the Pacific-10 Conference title and a berth in the 1997 Rose Bowl, and he was also named Pac-10 defensive player of the year. Tillman was selected in the seventh round of the 1998 NFL draft by the Cardinals, for whom he played safety. He quickly earned a place as a starting player and was impressive enough to attract a generous contract offer from the St. Louis Rams. However, Tillman felt a sense of loyalty to the Cardinals and elected to stay with them for the 2001 season.

After the September 11 attacks and the subsequent U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, Tillman was moved to examine his priorities. He elected to turn down a contract with the Cardinals and to enlist in the army after the conclusion of the 2001 season. He joined up in the spring of 2002 and trained to become an Army Ranger. Tillman was assigned to the 2nd battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment, and in 2003 he served his first tour of duty in Iraq, which the U.S. invaded in that year. In 2004 he and his unit were sent to Afghanistan to conduct operations to clear eastern Afghanistan of Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters.

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In April 2004 Tillman’s platoon was sent to patrol in Khost province, near the border with Pakistan. Following a breakdown of one of the patrol’s vehicles, the platoon was separated into two groups: one that stayed with the vehicle and one (which included Tillman) that proceeded to the nearby village of Manah. The group staying with the vehicle was caught in an enemy ambush, however, and the first group turned back to join the firefight. The lack of communication between the segments of the platoon caused confusion that resulted in Tillman’s being killed by gunfire from the second group.

The initial reports of Tillman’s death stated that he was killed during an ambush. He was quickly awarded a Purple Heart and a Silver Star, and Sen. John McCain eulogized him during a nationally televised memorial service. It was only much later, under pressure from Tillman’s family and the news media, that it came out that Tillman had died in friendly fire. Subsequent investigations revealed that actions had been taken to prevent the discovery of the circumstances under which he had been killed in order to allow the Army and the administration of U.S. Pres. George W. Bush to earn increased public sympathy for their war efforts. Tillman was the subject of a 2009 biography by Jon Krakauer, Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman, and he was inducted (2010) into the College Football Hall of Fame.