“It is possible, in my mind, that I hit him,” said Steven Elliott, who had been engaged in his first firefight as an Army Ranger when Tillman died on April 22, 2004, in the mountainous terrain of southeast Afghanistan.
The events leading up to one of the most infamous friendly-fire deaths in U.S. military history were rife for second-guessing from the start: After an Army Humvee broke down in the mountains, Tillman’s platoon was ordered divided by superiors so that the Humvee could be removed; a local truck driver was hired as the hauler. But the two groups struggled to communicate with each other as they traversed the steep terrain. And the second group soon became caught in a deafening ambush, receiving fire as it maneuvered down a narrow, rocky canyon trail.
Tillman’s group, which had traveled ahead, scaled a ridgeline to provide assistance to fellow Rangers under attack. But a squad leader, Sgt. Greg Baker, in Elliott’s armored vehicle misidentified an allied Afghan soldier positioned next to Tillman as the enemy and opened fire, killing the Afghan and prompting Elliott and two other Rangers to fire upon what Elliott called shadowy images, later learned to have been Tillman and then-19-year-old Bryan O’Neal.
The Army either has never determined or has never released whose shots killed Tillman. Tillman had left the Arizona Cardinals after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to join the Army, a decision that immediately turned him into a national symbol of sacrifice.
(Read the full story here.)
I feel for him! Not something you should have to live with!
Whoever killed Pat Tillman was tasked w/ the task. I am calling this PROPAGANDA!!!
All volunteers soldiers are stupid! You only serve as puppets for the Corrupt and Crooked politicians who send you to war. Those politicians are all owned by the bankers to who start the Narco-wars or the Oil-wars. War is a racket. Listen to Marine General Dempsey Butler, Google and read his article on war is a racket. Are soldiers policy makers and decide what war to enter. No the corrupt politicians like Daddy Bush and Jr Bush do and those war criminals Rumsfield/Cheney/Condoleeza Rice/John Yoo/ Wolfowitz to name a few. And now Obama-Rama/HilaryClinton/John Kerry/John McCain and that traitor to America JoeLieberman. All policy makers and all war criminals. That’s who you serve. You don’t serve America. You serve those crooked politicians.
The US military is filled with rapist and murderers and these guys sign up to kill people not protect!
And of course the military hides everything!
http://theusmarinesrape.com/FaceBook.html
This should be amole evidence that just as your dad told you, when he trained you to hunt, you NEVER EVER FIR YOUR GUN until you clearly know what you are firing on.
While I do feel some level of compassion for this man I also believe that far too often our military people simply shoot first and ask questions later, hence millions of unnecessary deaths.
This should teach each and every one of us that those who die in wars are our own. And to think……all of these deaths just so that the wealthy 1% greedy bass turds a