This makes me want to puke!

[NATE]

Tweethttps://www.azcentral.com/sports/card...tillman04.html


Army hid truth about how Tillman was killed
New report details 'gross negligence'

Josh White
Washington Post
May. 4, 2005 12:00 AM

WASHINGTON - The first Army investigator who looked into the death of former Arizona Cardinals football player Pat Tillman in Afghanistan last year found within days that he was killed by his fellow Rangers in an act of "gross negligence," but Army officials decided not to inform Tillman's family or the public until weeks after a nationally televised memorial service.
A new Army report on the death shows that top Army officials, including the theater commander, Gen. John Abizaid, were told that Tillman's death was the result of friendly fire days before the service.

Soldiers on the scene said they were immediately sure Tillman was killed by a barrage of American bullets as he took shelter behind a large boulder during a twilight firefight along a narrow canyon road near the Pakistani border, according to nearly 2,000 pages of interview transcripts and reports obtained by the Washington Post.
The documents also show that officers made erroneous initial reports that Tillman was killed by enemy fire, destroyed critical evidence and initially concealed the truth from Tillman's brother, also an Army Ranger, who was near the attack on April 22, 2004, but did not witness it.
Brig. Gen. Gary Jones prepared the report in response to questions from Tillman's family and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

In interviews with Jones, soldiers who were with Tillman when he died said they immediately reported that other Rangers, riding in a Humvee, emptied their weapons at his position on a hill without first identifying at whom they were shooting. Perceiving they were in a heated firefight, the soldiers rounded a corner and used several high-powered weapons to kill an Afghan Militia Force soldier working with the Rangers before pausing and turning their guns on Tillman. About 213 feet away, Tillman had been waving his arms and throwing a smoke grenade to signal his unit.
Jones reported that "some soldiers lost situational awareness to the point they had no idea where they were."
Tillman's death was a blow to the image of the Army and the special forces because of his storybook narrative. Tillman turned down a multimillion-dollar football contract with the Arizona Cardinals to enlist after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He and his brother joined the elite Army Rangers and deployed to Iraq and later Afghanistan, hunting the Taliban and al-Qaida through mountainous terrain.
Jones found that the operation was a routine "confirm or deny" trip to determine whether enemy combatants were in the town of Manah. Tillman's platoon had to split up because of a broken Humvee. His half went ahead toward the town. When the second half of the platoon followed through the canyon, it reportedly came under enemy fire. Tillman grabbed another Ranger and the Afghan soldier and got into position to lend fire support. When the second half of the platoon rounded a corner, they mistook the trio as foes.
In the documents, the soldiers who fired on Tillman cite many reasons for the confusion: The sun was going down and lighting conditions were bad; soldiers shot where they saw muzzle flashes but did not appropriately determine a target; they shot in the same direction as their team leader, assuming that he was firing at the enemy.
"I've replayed the events of that day and my actions in response to the events in my mind countless times. ... Given the same circumstances and having the same information I had, I would do the same thing," one soldier wrote in response to his punishment, which was getting kicked out of the Rangers. "I engaged men that I believed to be the enemy with the intent of killing them."
Another soldier wrote: "I wish that I would have taken a half-second to positively identify the targets instead of following another SOP (shoot where your team leader shoots). Maybe Cpl. Tillman would still be alive or maybe the outcome would still have been the same, but at least I wouldn't have to live with the guilt and re-experience that ambush while I sleep."
After the shooting, Tillman's brother was not informed about what had happened and was flown back to the United States with his brother's body.
Officers told the soldiers not to talk about the incident "to prevent rumors" and news reports.
The day after Tillman's death, his Ranger body armor was burned because it was covered in blood and was considered a "biohazard." His uniform was also burned. Jones noted that this amounted to the destruction of evidence.
Seven soldiers were given administrative reprimands for their actions, the most serious of which were for dereliction of duty and failing to exercise sound judgment and fire discipline in combat operations.

[Merc]

TweetThis does not surprise me, the government will do any thing possible to spin someones death into publicity in favor of the war

[NATE]

Tweet

This does not surprise me, the government will do any thing possible to spin someones death into publicity in favor of the war

i'm more concerned with the fact that he was only 213ft away, waving his hands and throwing smoke grenades to identify himself and they still opened fire on him. These are ARMY RANGERS we're talking about, elite special forces, highly trained individuals making a mistake like that? wow, wtf? I understand that it was under an attack in in the middle of a firefight but still, 213ft away....give me a damn break!

[SUGARBABY]

TweetI hate stories like this!

[ByRoN]

Tweetwow!!! RIP

[Got Gear?]

TweetSucks.. I don't know what to say other than American friendly fire has been a huge problem in Iraq and Afghanistan. And I can't for the life of me figure out why.

Anyone know?

[daved150]

Tweetun-friggin believable...213ft!!! it's hard to imagine the confussed state those men were in, but 213ft....damn shame. what a tremendous loss...for all of us. i'm sure it must be hell for those men to sleep at night.....

[Merc]

TweetThis happens a lot more than you think. This guy I know got a metal for getting shot in the foot... he was the one that shot himself

[daved150]

Tweet

This happens a lot more than you think. This guy I know got a metal for getting shot in the foot by his chief.

i believe you bro, but it's still tragic none the less!

[edvedr]

Tweetits a horrible thing no doubt. but i refuse to comment on anything towards our soldiers because i can't even imagine what its like to be in their shoes. so i don't feel i'm qualified to do anything but show support.

[kite]

Tweetsad

[T-Man007]

Tweet

its a horrible thing no doubt. but i refuse to comment on anything towards our soldiers because i can't even imagine what its like to be in their shoes. so i don't feel i'm qualified to do anything but show support.

I'm with you bro! It must be hard to know who's who when everyone is in green. And if it was difficult to see I might have shot too, you just enver know until you are in that situation.

But this isn't the first time. US soldiers have fallen from mistaken friendly fire in many wars. Vietnam was probably the worst. Thousands of soldiers got killed because soemone got their barrings wrong. What does surprise me is the fact that the guy let off smoke grenades. The Army Rangers are going to issue the same smoke grenades to everyone so there is no confusion. And with the modern technology of our military I find what happened to Tillman to be kinda irresponsible. But then again, I wasn't there getting shot at so who knows what I would have done.

The bottom line is, it's a sad shame. When you look back at WWI we used something as simple as a clicker to let friendlies know who we were and with todays technology these types of things should be avoided. Especially when the dude has the same smoke grenades as you do.

[Got Gear?]

TweetI'm still kinda choked about the Canadians that were killed in Afghanistan by american friendly fire. The US army blamed the pilot... but there was more to it than that. Poor pilot took the fall for the whole thing when there was more at fault than just him.

And right now the Italians are super-pissed at the american armed forces because of the killing of one of their secret agents by US friendly fire in Iraq a few weeks ago. The Italians are so pissed that they are withdrawing troops and have claimed that they will not send in any further support (not like it was alot anyway).

I'm with Ed.. I can't judge by what little I know.. but at the same time, there seems to be an awefuly large amount of instances where it's gone past "accident" into the realms of "negligence".

[Got Gear?]

TweetI'm curious... have any of you heard whats happening with the Italians and the Italian secret agent that was killed by american friendly fire? This has turned into a "major political incident" but I have a fealing that the majority of the american public arn't even aware of it.

[edvedr]

Tweeti heard about it. i heard he was speading thru spot checks refusing to stop. not sure if thats bullshit or not