How Tillman died

last updated 8 January 2015

Southeastern Afghanistan

Army Ranger Pat Tillman’s death last year by friendly fire was the result of bad command decisions that the Army tried to cover up, The Washington Post reported this week. Tillman, who played for the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals, walked away from a $3.6 million contract after the 9/11 attacks to fight the Taliban and al Qaida in Afghanistan. In announcing Tillman’s death, in April 2003, the Army exaggerated his role in the battle and implied that he was killed by the enemy, the Post said. It wasn’t until five weeks later that the Army admitted that Tillman was killed by members of his own unit during a Taliban ambush—and then it blamed frightened recruits who were firing blindly in their first battle. New evidence, the Post reported, shows that botched communications and key decisions made by superior officers, including a move to split the platoon as nightfall approached, were also to blame.