pat tilliman's death under investigation (again)

[robtex]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061109/ap_on_re_us/inquest_for_a_warrior

"In a remote and dangerous corner of Afganistan special agents and investigators did their work. They walked the landscape with surviving witnesses. They found a rock stained with the blood of the victim. They re-enacted the killings — here the U.S. Army Rangers swept through the canyon in their Humvee, blasting away; here the doomed man waved his arms, pleading for recognition as a friend, not an enemy."

His death has been listed as fratricide. The last link seems the closest to the oringinal link in the story presented. What do you think happened out there that night? How many rounds were fired? What is being covered-up and what is being told? Was his death an accident? The whole story is odd. There is alot to read and from running though as I post the links the story they seem pretty consistant. Just thought I would post the links and read more indept and slower later on.

http://www.truthdig.com/uncovered/item/20060307_pat_tillman_fratricide/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Tillman
http://www.answers.com/topic/kevin-tillman
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/03/AR2005050301502.html
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/05/27/pat.tillman/index.html

 

[FatMan]

Unfortunately for his family, the real truth will probably never be known.

The sad fact is that there were a bunch of young kids panicking in a tense situation pretty much shooting at whatever moved - and then they realized what happened after the fact. As a former military officer, I can understand what happened. In fact, death from friendly fire accounts for more deaths than people realize. I'd like to say it's unavoidable, but even with proper training, you still have to factor in that these are young kids with guns who have adrenaline flowing through them not knowing if they will die or not. This of course affects judgement.

 

[robtex]

As a former military officer,

I was kinda hoping miltary people would chime in with opinions. I am non-vetern and was hoping to learn from the wisdom of the vets of RF. I don't think he was dilberately killed because Kevin, his brother was on patrol with the same unit and he lived. However, the cover-up years after the event is disturbing, and the details seem odd. For instance night vision isn't mentioned in any of the articles.

 

[FatMan]

I was kinda hoping miltary people would chime in with opinions. I am non-vetern and was hoping to learn from the wisdom of the vets of RF. I don't think he was dilberately killed because Kevin, his brother was on patrol with the same unit and he lived. However, the cover-up years after the event is disturbing, and the details seem odd. For instance night vision isn't mentioned in any of the articles.

Strictly speaking, the details are not all that odd (at least as far as friendly fire deaths are). Tillman was standing with an Afghani. Some soldiers saw the AK-47 which isn't a US issued firearm and assumed enemy. In a firefight, decisions are made in an instant and wrong decisions have the effect that we see here.

The cover-up is more disturbing, but I can see how it happened since tillman was a celebrated enlistee and most people involved in events like this don't want to talk to military investigators. So the easy story was to portray Tillman as a hero fighting the enemy.

Sadly, it happens all of the time. Some soldiers are killed doing training exercises with live grenades - how do you explain that to a family?

The tillman incident is certainly not a time for the US Army to be proud regarding the way it was handled - but things like this happen and will continue to happen when young kids are given guns and put in a stressful situation. It's happened throughout history - just more people demand more accountability in present day.

 

[FatMan]

BTW - to clarify, at my highest rank, I was a 1st Lt. in the Signal Corp (Army) who never saw the battlefield. And I left the Army to pursue my current career when my mandatory time had elapsed.

 

[FatMan]

From a non-military viewpoint, I look at Tillman's death as a strange contradiction of today's society. On one hand, we demand total accountability in situations like this - in situations of police activity - and in situations of Medical deaths - and yet as a whole, we shirk personal responsibility more and more.

That bothers me more than the inquiries into the specifics of how he died.