July 19, 2006: The
Truth? He's Still Dead
By The Diesel
ESPN
has a front page headline announcing the first of a three part article, "The
Truth About Pat Tillman." The Tillman saga is one of the most played
out stories of the last five years. Valueless rehashing of his death crops
up on various news wires every few months as though some new evidence of a
major conspiracy has been discovered. No evidence, other than the fact that
he just had a bad day at the office, a really bad day. Hopefully, his story
will one day be put to rest before it sprouts roots and we learn that Tillman
knew Osama personally and that he also once slept with Marilyn Monroe, paving
the road to his assassination by Washington power brokers.
The condensed version of the ESPN story is as follows:
Pat Tillman went to war voluntarily
Pat Tillman was accidentally shot and killed by his own team
Initially, the Army held back information so as not to look bad due to his celebrity
Pat Tillman was still dead
The Army soon admitted that it was friendly fire that killed him
Pat Tillman's family screamed cover-up
The Army restated that friendly fire killed him, no cover-up, sorry
3 months pass(Repeat the section below several times until the timeline reaches today's article)
Pat Tillman's family again screamed cover-up
The Army restated that friendly fire killed him, not much of a cover-up
Pat Tillman is still dead
3 more months pass
Sandman's Take:
It's sad, but he was married and had a baby girl. The real hero is the child
he left behind. She has to live the rest of her life without her father.
He put his own needs ahead of his wife and child. ESPN can kiss his butt all they want to boost ratings to gain advertising dollars, but he is dead…dead…dead.
The Tillman family (parents) need to acknowledge and move on.
Additional Notes from White Russian:
You would think that this was the first case in the history of warfare
of someone being hit by friendly fire and that there will never be another
case of death by friendly fire in the future. Pat Tillman should be honored
for his service, but just because he was in the National Football League,
he should not be honored more than the countless other brave men and women
who have fought and continue to fight for our freedom.
There were 21,000 friendly fire deaths in World War II. At 16% of the total
number of deaths, friendly fire was the second highest ranking cause of death.
In the Gulf War, 35 (23%) of the total U.S. deaths came from friendly fire.
In the Vietnam War, it was 8,000 (14%).
About 11% of the 115 U.S. military deaths in Iraq, before major combat operations
ended, were from friendly fire.
Of the eight Bradley tanks and tank crews that were lost in the Gulf War,
friendly fire destroyed seven.
Friendly fire is a part of war - always has been and always will be. The ONLY reason we have to keep hearing about Tillman is because he was a professional football player.