Pat Tilman -any thoughts?

[yeartolate]

Pat Tilman

The Pat Tilman story is heating up (newswise) again with the censuring of the General for mishandling og the situation.


I really just don't get it. Crap happens in war. Sometimes really big mistakes. But you suck it in and learn from it.

How can people be so stupid to believe in this day and age there would not be leaks? How would it have done any good to hide the truth? How cold it inevitably help the family to hide the truth.

SInce they (and we) were lied to, now whole different can of worms is opened....he apparently was vocal about his disagreement with going into Iraq, supported Kerry, had meetings with news media set up........now folks are going down the "perhaps it wasn't an accident" path.


Who was this general getting instruction from? Friendly fire seems to be reported without hesitation in many cases.


Sorry for the randomness, but the whole thing really angers me.

That family should have peace and now they only have questions ---- and I can't say I blame them.

 

[cardaway]

IMO it all boils down to him being the NFL soldier. If he was Joe from WV it wouldn't be front page news.

 

[hoosll]

My first thought is for his family - they have fought so hard for the truth to come out about the DEATH of their love one.

I truly believe that the military runs on approval from above. When someone gets so much publicity about joining the military, becomes a "poster boy" for serving your country, and then dies from friendly fire only weeks into deployment .... there were either massive "converstaions" up and down the chain of command OR the brass knew that there was only one "correct action" - cover up.

I continue to wonder just WHY we should depend on an assessment from generals on the chances of success in Iraq-istan when those same generals are trained to WIN, not retreat. It will take political will on our part to leave. We have destroyed the infrastructure of Iraq and now we are unable to fix it because the Iraqi people have lost faith in our ability to fix things.

 

[mickeyfan2]

IMO it all boils down to him being the NFL soldier. If he was Joe from WV it wouldn't be front page news.

Sadly, this is so true.

 

[Bob Slydell]

IMO it all boils down to him being the NFL soldier. If he was Joe from WV it wouldn't be front page news.

Unfortunately, that's true. And the twisted thing is that it's exactly opposite of what you'd normally think would happen. Normally, you'd think that a high profile person like Pat would have his family get the best information they had available, but rather, there seemed to be more of a concern with preserving his "hero" status (like dying in war isn't heroic regardless of how the death occurred? ) that they insisted on covering up stuff.

 

[Keli]

I think it's horrible that there was a cover up in the first place. I don't care how badly the military messed up in this friendly fire accident they should have stood up like men and women and said "Here's what happened..." to his family.
War is never good, easy, clean, and perfect. Tragedies occur that should not. But families deserve to know the truth.

 

[4nana]

IMO it all boils down to him being the NFL soldier. If he was Joe from WV it wouldn't be front page news.

I agree, that sums it up . I am very disappointed the Army would intentionally pull a cover up, as it doesn't make them look good to this Army Mom or anyone else. If it was an accident why not just tell, it happens all the time?! Every soldier is a hero in his own way and every family deserves to know the truth if God forbid something happens to their loved one . God bless Pat T. for his sacrifice and may he rest in peace.

 

[Fitswimmer]

I believe that the Jessica Lynch story didn't actually happen the way we all heard it either. Didn't she testify under oath before Congress and debunk some of the mythology around that?

 

[legalsea]

I think it's horrible that there was a cover up in the first place. I don't care how badly the military messed up in this friendly fire accident they should have stood up like men and women and said "Here's what happened..." to his family.
War is never good, easy, clean, and perfect. Tragedies occur that should not. But families deserve to know the truth.

Amen. Unfortunately, during Vietnam cover-ups of USA deaths by friendly-fire were all too common by the military. Heck, my father says that during WWII friendly-fire deaths were pretty common, and commonly hushed-up.

 

[manning]

The cover-up is what made this story.

Sadly in war there will be deaths by friendly fire. The battle lines are so fluid it is hard not to avoid along with mistakes.

I do know that when a mission is called down great pains are taken to avoid mistakes.

I know several people who are lucky to be here from the vietnam war.

One survived a friendly 500 lb bomb.

Why there was a cover-up is beyond me.

 

[powellrj]

We have always been big Pat Tillman supporters. We give to his foundation and were very upset when he died.

It also saddens me that the Army felt it had to make his death into something it wasn't. War is awful, its ugly and accidents happen. I don't like that they felt they needed to lie about his death.

I can't believe in this day and age they thought they would get away with a cover-up.

 

[DawnCt1]

IMO it all boils down to him being the NFL soldier. If he was Joe from WV it wouldn't be front page news.

That of course is a function of the media, not a function of the military. It was the military medical examiners that noted that the wounds in his forehead did not match the story that his unit and his unit commander related. All deaths are investigated with the same vigor, no matter who is involved. Friendly fire incidents are tragic, horrible events but the cover up of those events are worse. I think the motivation to cover it up further up the food chain, possibly to a general was motivated by his fame. I certainly can understand not releasing a partial report until the facts are known. Military investigations are thorough but they are not hasty.

 

[DawnCt1]

I agree, that sums it up . I am very disappointed the Army would intentionally pull a cover up, as it doesn't make them look good to this Army Mom or anyone else. If it was an accident why not just tell, it happens all the time?! Every soldier is a hero in his own way and every family deserves to know the truth if God forbid something happens to their loved one . God bless Pat T. for his sacrifice and may he rest in peace.

It was "The Army" that covered it up. It was some people in the Army, including a high ranking officer that attempted to cover it up. It was an Army medical examiner that uncovered the truth and his findings prompted the investigation.

 

[Robinrs]

The whole story was blown up from the beginning.

When he volunteered to go and leave behind a promising NFL career he was touted as a HERO. Then when he was killed he was a tragic hero. The story was everywhere. The media reported what they were being told.

When the truth about the "friendly fire" came out it all but tainted this story. It's a tragedy no matter what but to admit that America killed America's hero??? It was humiliating.

This will continue on the same lines as it started.

 

[daisax]

When the truth about the "friendly fire" came out it all but tainted this story. It's a tragedy no matter what but to admit that America killed America's hero??? It was humiliating.

It was also a particularly deadly month in terms of US casualties (at that point -- of course we didn't know things would get so much worse), and the Army knew that the Abu Gharaib story was about to break. The last thing they needed was a "we're so screwed up we killed our Golden Boy" story.