The Odyssey of Pat Tillman

I think it’s safe to say that former NFL player Pat Tillman – an Army Ranger killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan – was the first hero of the War on Terror.  Like many, I assumed his death was a tragic accident. I was wrong:

I knew Pat Tillman died from friendly fire, but I assumed he had been killed by a stray American bullet in the middle of an enemy skirmish. This isn’t true. Tillman and his two fellow soldiers were fired on for over fifteen minutes with heavy artillery before the shooting stopped. One of the men shooting was a callow Ranger named Trevor Alders, who changed his shooting position to fire on Tillman’s group despite Army rules forbidding gunners from freelancing. Alders was the soldier who ended up killing Tillman, firing three small rounds from his Squad Automatic Weapon into Tillman’s forehead.

I find Kissing Suzy Kolber juvenile, offensive, and only occasionally funny. But you really should read their review of John Krakauer’s Where Men Win Glory.