Pat Tillman
Pat Tillman turned down a multimillion-dollar professional football contract to join the army after September 11th. He was shot and killed by enemy fire in April of 2004. Because of the national response to his choice and “ultimate sacrifice”, the military chose not to disclose the true events leading up to Tillman’s death, including a bungled series of commands and poor communication. Instead, MSNBC reported: “after coming under fire, Tillman’s patrol got out of their vehicles and gave chase, moving toward the spot of the ambush. Beevers said the fighting was “sustained” and lasted 15-20 minutes. Beevers said Tillman was killed by enemy fire” (Johnson).
Tillman was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for gallantry on the battlefield, one of the highest military honors. In announcing the award the Army Special Operations Command provided detailed descriptions of the specific engagement in which Tillman was killed. The report said that Tillman was leading one half of his platoon when the trailing half came under enemy fire. Though Tillman was already in the safe zone he rushed back to assist his besieged comrades.
Tillman led a charge up the backside of a hillock to charge the enemy position. Associated Press reports the award announcement verbatim: “Through the firing Tillman’s voice was heard issuing fire commands to take the fight to the enemy on the dominating high ground,” the award announcement said. “Only after his team engaged the well-armed enemy did it appear their fires diminished. As a result of his leadership and his team’s efforts, the platoon trail section was able to maneuver through the ambush to positions of safety without a single casualty” (msnbc.msn.com).
This report, however, was a total fabrication. While Tillman fought courageously, his platoon was never ambushed. The two halves of the platoon, moving separately, lost communication and in the confusion one patrol began firing upon the other. Furthermore, Tillman was merely a soldier, he was not a senior commanding officer in the platoon (Coll). During the weeks following the event, commanders of the 75th Rangers Regiment, in which both Pat and his brother served, withheld the true facts from his brother. These same commanders withheld the truth from Tillman’s widow, parents, and the general public.
While Tillman was clearly a brave soldier willing to sacrifice a life of wealth to fight for a cause he believed in, the military manipulated the story of his life and death in order to achieve their own ends. Afraid that the fratricide of their poster boy would raise public unease about the war, they rewrote the events leading up to Tillman’s death as a mythic warrior narrative. According to the military, he showed early and supernatural physical aptitude as demonstrated in his football career (he was considered too small and scrappy to play as well as he did), he sacrificed a fortune, he went through intense training as an Army Ranger, he demonstrated intense passion for his country, he rushed the enemy without regard for his own life, he commanded his troops peerlessly, and he died on his feet.
The first part of the story is true, but the military scripted the end to match. This reflects a set of cultural expectations that determine a glorious from a wrongful death. In both versions of the story Tillman’s death is tragic. The difference lies in the implicit association of the heroic mythic figure with a glorification of war, the justification of violence that mythology affords.