# Now I Can Rest in Peace, I Have the Full Story of Pat Tillman's Death
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-can-rest-in-peace-i-have-the-full-story-of-pat-tillmans-death/278431
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [December 6, 2004, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-can-rest-in-peace-i-have-the-full-story-of-pat-tillmans-death/278431 "2004-12-06T22:40:57Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2004, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-can-rest-in-peace-i-have-the-full-story-of-pat-tillmans-death/278431/1 "2004-12-06T22:40:57Z")
Because, obviously, being a former pro football player, he is the only important person who served in Afghanistan.
I really don’t dispute his sacrifice. I admire what he did. I just wish the news organizations wouldn’t assume I’d be fascinated.
That is all. Did I post this first? Do I win anything?
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### Author:  [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2004, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-can-rest-in-peace-i-have-the-full-story-of-pat-tillmans-death/278431/2 "2004-12-06T22:43:09Z")
Yup! You win the right to provide a link to whatever story it is you’re talking about.
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### Author:  [@JonScribe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JonScribe)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2004, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-can-rest-in-peace-i-have-the-full-story-of-pat-tillmans-death/278431/3 "2004-12-06T22:47:59Z")
I skimmed through it, because I didn’t want to invest the time to read all 120 inches. As a look into how a friendly-fire incident happened, it’s probably an interesting story, but that fact that it was Tillman really doesn’t make it any more or less of an important story.
Like you I don’t understand the glorification of this guy. yeah, he didn’t have to go. Yeah, he could have signed a lucrative football contract. But most everybody in Afhganistan and Iraq and elsewhere in the world have made sacrifices and probably could have done something else.
It’s a sad story, and points to the need for better training, but it’s not the first time. Won’t be the last.
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### Author:  [@JonScribe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JonScribe)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2004, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-can-rest-in-peace-i-have-the-full-story-of-pat-tillmans-death/278431/4 "2004-12-06T22:51:44Z")
Washington Post [right here.](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35717-2004Dec4.html)
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### Author:  [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2004, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-can-rest-in-peace-i-have-the-full-story-of-pat-tillmans-death/278431/5 "2004-12-06T22:53:41Z")
Anyone got a dummy registration name we can use if we don’t want to hassle going through the process?
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### Author:  [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2004, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-can-rest-in-peace-i-have-the-full-story-of-pat-tillmans-death/278431/6 "2004-12-06T22:56:45Z")
You don’t find anything moderately interesting or heroic about a dude who voluntarily turned down an easy life, including more money than most of us can imagine and babes aplenty, to go fight for his country?
Tough crowd.
Pat Tillman, this Bud’s for you.
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### Author:  [@JonScribe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JonScribe)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2004, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-can-rest-in-peace-i-have-the-full-story-of-pat-tillmans-death/278431/7 "2004-12-06T23:01:00Z")
That’s my point. The style of life he turned down isn’t any more important or interesting than that of others who have made the same choice. Bud’s for everybody, then. OK?
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### Author:  [@Chairman\_Pow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chairman_Pow)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2004, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-can-rest-in-peace-i-have-the-full-story-of-pat-tillmans-death/278431/8 "2004-12-06T23:06:35Z")
Perhaps when your indignation dies down you’ll reread the article (or read some others) and realize that the importance of this event is not that a famous (granted, I had no idea who he was) dude died, but that he was killed due to great incompetence and _then the official reports were falsified_.
Tell me that’s not an important story. Tragic if not surprising.
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### Author:  [@JonScribe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JonScribe)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2004, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-can-rest-in-peace-i-have-the-full-story-of-pat-tillmans-death/278431/9 "2004-12-06T23:20:50Z")
It is an important story, but don’t you think it’s likely that such incompetency and malfeasance can be found in most cases of deaths by friendly fire?
It’s unfortunate that we can’t muster the interest in such a story unless it’s a celebrity and football player who dies in a scandal.
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### Author:  [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2004, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-can-rest-in-peace-i-have-the-full-story-of-pat-tillmans-death/278431/10 "2004-12-06T23:30:36Z")
The news that he died in a friendly fire accident is not new.
Why are they rehashing it?
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### Author:  [@Chairman\_Pow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chairman_Pow)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2004, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-can-rest-in-peace-i-have-the-full-story-of-pat-tillmans-death/278431/11 "2004-12-06T23:37:16Z")
> [@JonScribe](#):
>
> It is an important story, but don’t you think it’s likely that such incompetency and malfeasance can be found in most cases of deaths by friendly fire?
Indeed, but I always find it funny when stories like this come out and people complain that the only reason it got press was because of a famous person when I presume they would have no knowledge of similar events had the famous-person story not been published.
> [@](#):
>
> It’s unfortunate that we can’t muster the interest in such a story unless it’s a celebrity and football player who dies in a scandal.
Odd that you bemoan the famous dude and then use multiple qualifiers, as if the story wouldn’t have been reported if he were only a celebrity or a football player…
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### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2004, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-can-rest-in-peace-i-have-the-full-story-of-pat-tillmans-death/278431/12 "2004-12-06T23:43:29Z")
> [@Chairman Pow](#):
>
> Perhaps when your indignation dies down you’ll reread the article (or read some others) and realize that the importance of this event is not that a famous (granted, I had no idea who he was) dude died, but that he was killed due to great incompetence and _then the official reports were falsified_.
>
> Tell me that’s not an important story. Tragic if not surprising.
And hey, if no one would have paid attention to it if Joe Sixpack from Butte, MT had been the one to buy the farm, then _it’s a good thing Pat Tillman got it because now those asshats who falsified reports can get what they deserve._
Friendly fire accidents happen all too frequently and covering up what happened only means that some other undeserving bastard’s going to get it, instead of proceedures being put in place to prevent it from happening again.
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### Author:  [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2004, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-can-rest-in-peace-i-have-the-full-story-of-pat-tillmans-death/278431/13 "2004-12-06T23:44:26Z")
> [@Reeder](#):
>
> The news that he died in a friendly fire accident is not new.
>
> Why are they rehashing it?
Granted I havent been scouring news sources for details on this story, but today is the first time I recall hearing that he was killed by friendly fire.
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### Author:  [@The\_Truth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Truth)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2004, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-can-rest-in-peace-i-have-the-full-story-of-pat-tillmans-death/278431/14 "2004-12-06T23:47:43Z")
It is interesting and ironic to note that the person whining about celebrities getting too much coverage has contributed with 4 out of the 10 posts so far in this thread.
Of course the media is going to pick up some story about a soldier who gave up a lucrative NFL career to go fight for his country. I doubt we’re going to see any movie about some person with the main theme of the movie being how he or she gave up a lucrative burger flipping career.
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### Author:  [@JonScribe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JonScribe)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2004, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-can-rest-in-peace-i-have-the-full-story-of-pat-tillmans-death/278431/15 "2004-12-06T23:49:30Z")
I don’t think it would have been reported to this extent had it been anyone but a celebrity. Or at least have been given the play it was given and the resulting attention.
There were other casualties in this incident. Why doesn’t the story give us detail on the sacrifices those other than Tillman made in signing up for this duty?
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### Author:  [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2004, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-can-rest-in-peace-i-have-the-full-story-of-pat-tillmans-death/278431/16 "2004-12-07T00:01:01Z")
> [@mouthbreather](#):
>
> Granted I havent been scouring news sources for details on this story, but today is the first time I recall hearing that he was killed by friendly fire.
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=258774&highlight=tilman](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=258774&highlight=tilman)
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### Author:  [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2004, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-can-rest-in-peace-i-have-the-full-story-of-pat-tillmans-death/278431/17 "2004-12-07T00:04:31Z")
> [@Chairman Pow](#):
>
> Indeed, but I always find it funny when stories like this come out and people complain that the only reason it got press was because of a famous person when I presume they would have no knowledge of similar events had the famous-person story not been published.
>
> Odd that you bemoan the famous dude and then use multiple qualifiers, as if the story wouldn’t have been reported if he were only a celebrity or a football player…
Do you remember these names being spread all over the news?
> [@](#):
>
> Master Sgt. Jefferson Donald Davis, 39; Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Henry Petithory, 32; Staff Sgt. Brian Cody Prosser, 28
Of course you don’t. One mention, maybe two on the news. Why is that?
[http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/12/05/gen.war.against.terror/](http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/12/05/gen.war.against.terror/)
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### Author:  [@JonScribe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JonScribe)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2004, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-can-rest-in-peace-i-have-the-full-story-of-pat-tillmans-death/278431/18 "2004-12-07T00:13:02Z")
> [@The Truth](#):
>
> It is interesting and ironic to note that the person whining about celebrities getting too much coverage has contributed with 4 out of the 10 posts so far in this thread.
>
> Of course the media is going to pick up some story about a soldier who gave up a lucrative NFL career to go fight for his country. I doubt we’re going to see any movie about some person with the main theme of the movie being how he or she gave up a lucrative burger flipping career.
Yeah, because anybody who gives up a life as a burger-flipper deserves to be cannon-fodder. No great loss there.
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### Author:  [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2004, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-can-rest-in-peace-i-have-the-full-story-of-pat-tillmans-death/278431/19 "2004-12-07T00:15:01Z")
I’ll add my vociferous agreement to the above statements that we can squeeze some lemonade from this big fat lemon by capitolizing on Tillman’s fame to hold the Brass responsible for incompetance. You got people bombing weddings, wasting friendlies, abusing prisoners…where does the buck stop with all of this bullshit? Yah, I know friendly fire happens, but Tilllman’s case is egregious all around. It’s high time people pay attention to some systemic issues in the military. Maybe if enough people make a stink over a dead celebrity, he and all the others who got offed this way won’t have died in vain.
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### Author:  [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2004, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-can-rest-in-peace-i-have-the-full-story-of-pat-tillmans-death/278431/20 "2004-12-07T01:28:32Z")
> [@](#):
>
> The style of life he turned down isn’t any more important or interesting than that of others who have made the same choice. Bud’s for everybody, then. OK?
FWIW, I tip my hat to all the servicemen and women, be they pro football players or burger flippers. And I’d chastise anyone who has the audacity to whine that anyone who gave their life to this country, for any reason, didn’t deserve media attention.
The national media has paid more attention to Tillman because he played in the NFL. Celebrities get more attention than the average Joes. Deal.
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