The Death Of Pat Tillman, By Jon Krakauer

There are three main ideas that every American takes pride in, which is their country, freedom, and military. Americans holds their heads high when it comes to its military. From the Army, to the Marines, to the Navy Seals, and all the other branches of military, Americans are both proud and fully supportive of its troops. Sadly, that pride was shaken on April 22, 2004 when famous NFL player and former Army Ranger, Pat Tillman was killed in Afghanistan over friendly fire. After Tillman’s death, the Army tried several time to cover up Pat’s actual cause of death to try and use him for propaganda recruitment purposes. The Army was never fully convicted for the cover up of Tillman’s true death. Since then, many articles and documentaries have

“Consequently, when soldiers accidently kill one of their own there is reluctance to confront the truth” (Krakauer 8). Immediately after Pat’s death, the Army knew that since Pat was a famous football player and well known throughout America he would be key to the Army’s recruitment purposes. High ranked men “wanted to use him for prime recruitment posters” (The Tillman Story 3). This would start the wild fire of lies throughout the Army over the cover-up of Pat Tillman’s actual cause of death. In the army a solider must carry a heavy load on themselves. A helmet, rifle, body armor, and many other military weapons can be found on the backs of just one solider. The average person would assume that with an abundance of possessions on oneself it would be easy to access everything after one has died in battle. However, for Tillman that thought proved to be wrong because after his death Pat’s “diary, body armor, and clothes” (The Tillman Story 6) were no where to be found. The army claimed they didn’t know what happened to it, but most of the public believed it was the Army who destroyed Pat’s items so that all evidence would be lost on finding out Pat’s true cause of death. This shows that the Army was definitely up to no good. This incident caused the Army to become a prime suspect for the blaming of Pat Tillman’s

Pat’s cause of death would eventually reach congressional government levels. In “April of 2007” (The Tillman Story 7) a congressional meeting was held to determine when a certain P4 file reached Army headquarters. High ranked military leaders like Donald Rumsfeld gave their testimonies about the date the P4 file was received. Sadly, everything but the truth was sad about the P4 file. Nothing was justified during the meeting except for the fact that the army was filled with noting but deceitful dishonest cowards that were afraid to man up and speak the truth. In fact, “the phrase ‘I don’t recall’ was noted to have been proclaimed 82 times” (The Tillman Story 7) by various Army officials. The reason for so much lying was because had the Army said the actual date it would have proved that the Army was culpable for everything involved in Tillman’s death. The Army just kept proving their guilt more and