Posted on 04/14/2011 11:03:08 AM PDT by presidio9
The mother of former professional football player Pat Tillman is calling for the removal of Gen. Stanley McChrystal from his recent appointment by the White House as co-chair of a commission on military families, ABC News reports.
Mary Tillman, whose son left his NFL career to become an Army Ranger and was killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire in April 2004, said McChrystal — the commander of special operations in Afghanistan at the time — was involved in the coverup of the circumstances surrounding Pat Tillman’s death and said President Obama’s appointment of the now-retired general “makes him look foolish.”
I was actually pretty shocked to hear it; I don't think it’s the appropriate choice,” Tillman told ABC News. “Considering that we have plenty of evidence indicating that McChrystal was involved in the cover-up of Pat’s death. . .he's not the right person for
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Friendly fire deaths have occured in all of our wars from the Battle of Germantown right up to today. Also the military informing the next of kin that their son died in combat without detailing how, has also been common for the last 235 years.
The mother has a valid point. His role in the coverup is shameful. HE SHOULD GO!!
The Tillman family needs to go away. Nothing but a bunch of ingrates. McChristol is a problem for some reasons,,, but this isn’t it.
He only tried to make their son into a hero rather than a victim. Not smart, but probably better for a true war effort. Same thing happened to Colin Kelly and many other in WWII.
What i especially despise the Till-holes for is is pushing for the ranger who mistakenly shot him to be prosecuted. Utterly depraved and selfish.
One of the Army values is Honesty. If a leading General can't uphold it, how does that look to the soldiers under him?
The truth is that they were operating at night, in the mountains, and received some fire. After that, in the night maneuvering, some units got confused and lit each other up. By all accounts, he was brave and trying to stop the fire when he was shot.
Looks like he was a brave guy, who found himself in a typical situation that grunts all too often land in. He performed well, and died. His commanders tried to seal his service with a deserved award.
His family has far exceeded whatever grief-space they should be afforded. STFU
His name isn’t that important to me. I think he’s a case study of whats wrong with our Officer corps in this war. So i’ll spell it however i want.
And also, that’s a very childish attitude; to demand that we openly trumpet every innocent error we make. There also needs to be a thought given to “does this help or hinder the war effort”. Thank God Tillman wasnt killed at Slapton Sands, the Tillman family would demand the truth be told. (nevermind how it helps the Germans)
Worst of all to me, is how the family wants that young machine gunner prosecuted.
Friendly fire deaths have occured in all of our wars from the Battle of Germantown right up to today. Also the military informing the next of kin that their son died in combat without detailing how, has also been common for the last 235 years.
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And that does what you’ve written above have to do with the Pat Tillman case?
It was known to be friendly fire while they were telling the family otherwise - clearly not covered in your points above.
The family was given specific information on the cause of Pat’s death, but it was made up out of whole cloth - again, not covered in your whitewash above.
Read Where Men Win Glory and get back to us. The military acted shamefully after Tillman’s death.
“One of the Army values is Honesty.”
The Army Values:
Loyalty
Duty
Respect
Selfless Service
Honor
Integrity
Personal Courage
Honesty may well be a inherent in many of the Army Values, but it isn’t “one of the army values.”
Her pain and suffering are relevant only so long as they enhance the political template of the moment. If she is useful, she will get darling of the media treatment. If she interferes with the message, she will be as welcome as the ditch witch of Crawford, TX. Democrappers live on emotion, not fact.
Wasn’t trying to whitewash anything. Wasn’t dealing with the details of this case. Just stating what has occured in the past. I doubt if this much attention would have been given to the incident if it occured during WW2 or even Korea. It was a differant country back then. A contrast in how people react today.
If Pvt. Smith of the 23rd Pennsylvania on the morning of July 1, 1863 was killed by an accidental discharge from Pvt Jones, I am pretty sure the Major of the 23rd Pennsylvania informed the Smith family that their son died valiantly on the fields of Gettysburg. He did not inform them that their son was accidently killed before the battle began. Military leaders told these lies with good intentions.
Imagine a family getting a letter that was brutally honest. Sorry for your loss, but Pvt Smith died beause he did something stupid. In the past they had more tact, so they told a lie that Pvt Smith died valiantly.
Again, just dealing generally, not with the specifics of this one case.
That is not the problem here, the problem here was commanding officer cover up after the fact, and no real punchment for the officer that screwed up, and then no action on the cover up.
“Integrity”.
Close enough.
It’s one thing to gloss over the details in a notification letter.
But, in this case, the Army went out of its way to create and ENFORCE a false narrative of the events leading up to and including Tillman’s death.
Got me there. I have no way of knowing if officers in the past coverupped incidents like Tillman’s, because they never had to.
Is she trying to be the next Cindy Sheehan or what?
War is now a television show.
DOD executives are constantly watching the ratings ;)
As I understand the incident, Tillman’s unit was operating with Indigenous forces. Specifically, Afghan Militia. I assume these “Indigs” would be carrying Kalashnikovs. The report and visual signature of which, would be enough to draw attention, if not fire from “friendly forces” i.e. U.S. Army.
In VN, US Military tried to make “Marvin the ARVIN” look as much like us as they possibly could, to avoid incidents such as this.
A very, very tragic story...
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