Pat Tillman’s mother calls for McChrystal’s removal from White House post

Washington Post ^ | 04/14/2011 | Matt DeLong

[Verginius Rufus]

When President Bush was still in office, the Tillman family was loudly asserting that Pat Tillman hated George W. Bush (for going into Iraq). Whether that was really Pat Tillman's attitude, I have no way of knowing. But it would be a reason for the media to like the Tillman family.

Friendly fire changed the course of the Civil War--Stonewall Jackson was a victim of friendly fire, and who knows how later battles would have turned out if Jackson had still been around. I read somewhere that Lee thought he would have won at Gettysburg if he had had Jackson there.

[gleeaikin]

A detail that is not mentioned here is that Tillman was a professed atheist. There is some question as to whether he might have been fragged because of his beliefs. Also, I have heard that the unit was split up at night, leading to confusion when firing started. My late husband, a Korean War vet used to say, “you never split up the squad at night.” What a mess, however it shakes out!

[mewykwistmas]

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.

You said exactly what I wanted to say. I just want to add that they family wasn't in this scam, which makes it a lot worse.

[justice14]

Friendly fire changed the course of the Civil War--Stonewall Jackson was a victim of friendly fire, and who knows how later battles would have turned out if Jackson had still been around. I read somewhere that Lee thought he would have won at Gettysburg if he had had Jackson there.

Who knows what the outcome would have been but Jackson definately would have persuaded Lee from a few major mistakes Lee made at Gettysburg. Lee didn't trust his other generals like he did Jackson.

[robowombat]

The difference between Colin Kelly and Pat Tillman is that Kelly actually did perform a heroic and self sacrificing act by continuing to fly his B-17 even though it was seriously damaged and on fire after being attacked by enemy interceptors that were already attacking Clark Field as his aircraft returned from an abortive bombing mission against Japanese landing forces. By doing so all but one crew member were able to evacuate the aircraft and parachute to safety. For this Kelly was decorated with the DFC, I believe. Kelly had the misfortune to be posthumously accredited with fictional heroics by the press relying on some garbled and fragmentary reports out of the Philippines. The completely unfounded reports of his bomber delivering damaging hits to a Japanese battleship continued to appear in print narratives as late as the 1960’s.

Kelly is constantly refereed to incorrectly as being awarded the first Medal of Honor for the Philippine campaign. The actual first MOH for the Philippines was awarded posthumously to 2nd Lt Alexander Nininger, jr. A USMA graduate as was Kelly, Nininger an officer assigned to the 57th Infantry (Philippine Scouts) , volunteered to fill the place of another officer already a casualty and organized a counterattack that blunted one prong of a Japanese attack on the Abucay Line on Bataan. The official citation states “Though exposed to heavy enemy fire he continued to attack with rifle and hand grenades and succeeded in destroying several enemy groups in fox holes and enemy snipers. Although wounded three times he continued his attacks until he was killed.after pushing alone far within the enemy position. When his body was found after recapture of the position, one enemy officer and two enemy soldiers lay dead around him.” The courage displayed by Nininger and 1st Lt. Willibald Bianchi of the 45th Infantry and Sgt Jose Calugas of the 88th Field Artillery won them the MOH and they and Kelly demonstrated the determined courage of the US forces trapped in the Philippines knowing no help would come for them and and that they were fighting a losing battle.
This is the highest kind of bravery and reflects highly on the pre-war Regular Army.

Tillman, unfortunately, did not have the opportunity to demonstrate his courage and battle. His death illustrates the nightmare of the ‘celebrity’ in uniform. It is the nightmare of any commanding officer that something will befall the celebrity figure. Amicicide is about as bad a something as there is. Unfortunately fabrications of the sort surrounding Tillman's death tend to come to the surface. Especially today with cell phone cameras and the plethora of personal electronic devices. The truth should have been spelled out as soon as it was known. All the attempts to gild the lily did was to seriously embarrass the US Army.

[ohioman]

I agree. I also wish the Tillman’s would just shut up.

[thefactor]

Ha. Of course I meant to say Honor. I just had the word 'honesty' on the brain. Thanks for the correction. We were taught that honor (and integrity) include honesty.

Was the truth in this matter so much worse than lying about it? The buck stops with you when you wear a star, IMHO. Any officer should have done the same. Thanks again.