Pat Tillman: the misunderstood American Hero's life and death 20 years on

For many, Pat Tillman is symbolic of everything great about America, turning down millions of dollars to fight for his country in defense of freedom. The truth is more complicated than that, with doubts, coverups, and politics clouding the legacy of this former NFL star.

Born in California, Tillman was the eldest of three brothers, with whom he was always incredibly close. He played football and baseball in high school and was eventually given a full scholarship to play for the Arizona State Sun Devils as a linebacker.

Tillman became a star in Phoenix, slightly undersized for a linebacker, he was athletic and willing to put his body on the line. After winning the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year award in 1997, Tillman would go down as a legend for the Sun Devils on the field.

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Despite his college career, his need to switch positions to safety made some teams wary of Tillman’s prospects in the pros. Having been taken late in the seventh round, Tillman was now an Arizona Cardinal, meaning he could stay in Phoenix, but would have to learn a whole new position, per Pro Football Reference.

Impressing during pre-season and in limited opportunities on special teams, Tillman was made a starter during his rookie season and made an impression early. Starting 10 games, he finished the season with 74 total tackles and a solo sack. The future was looking bright for Pat, per ESPN reporting from the time.

Over the next three seasons, Tillman would continue to be a mainstay of the Cardinals' defense, putting up impressive numbers for a safety. This culminated in 2000 when Tillman finished the season with 144 total tackles, one and half sacks, two forced fumbles, and an interception, per Pro Football Reference.

After the 9/11 attacks in September of 2001, Tillman decided to play out the rest of the season, but along the way, he and his brother Kevin decided they needed more meaning in their lives. According to Ryan Devereaux of The Intercept, Pat, in particular, was a free thinker who valued discussion and debate, and felt his comfortable life as a sportsman was not enough to satisfy him with everything going on in a now fast-changing world.

The dream of many NFL players is to make it to a second contract, that is where the real money is made. According to The Military Times, Tillman received an offer of $3,600,000 over three years from the Cardinals. Tillman turned this down.

Pat and Kevin Tillman enlisted together on May 31st, 2002. Later that year, having completed their initial training, the Tillmans would remain deployed at Fort Lewis, Washington as part of the 2nd Ranger Battalion.

Despite Pat’s desperation for this to be a personal choice that shouldn’t be used for political advantage, again per The Intercept, Tillman’s decision to enlist was soon on the lips of every pro-war politician. Tillman became a symbol of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

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Like many of the thousands of new enlistees, Tillman was expecting to be fighting Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden, each looking to exact revenge for the deadly attacks in New York City. Instead, he found himself fighting in Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom, a battle Pat later described as “f****** illegal”, from The Intercept.

Upon completing his tour of Iraq, Tillman trained to become an Army Ranger, an elite unit in the US military. Graduating from the course in late 2003. By this time, Pat was starting to become disillusioned with the military, often confiding in Kevin his real feelings about the war, but refused to walk away until he had completed his duty. 

Pat Tillman was killed on the 23rd of April 2004 during a deployment to Afghanistan. He was on a routine patrol when he was gunned down in the rocky valleys of eastern Afghanistan. Initially reported as killed by enemy combatants, it was uncovered later that Tillman had been killed in a friendly fire incident. During the incident, and whilst under fire from his fellow Americans, Pat had screamed “I’m Pat-f******-Tillman” in an attempt to warn them who they were shooting at, from a 2014 NPR article.

The US military were quick to spread the story of Tillman’s death being part of a heroic charge against enemy combatants, using a Navy SEAL friend of Pat’s to read a pre-written statement. The troops involved in Tillman’s death were quick to cover up their mistake, destroying his uniform and most of the evidence of what had occurred along with it.

Despite his continued insistence that he never wanted to be a poster boy of America’s wars, Tillman became a political tool. The fabricated version of events was spread widely by media and politicians and even to the Tillman family, with readings at his funeral alluding to his heroic death.

It was Pat’s brother Kevin who was the first to hear rumors of friendly fire and the subsequent coverup, from his sergeant. From there, news spread quickly with Pat’s mother leading the charge to uncover the truth, forcing four investigations into what actually occurred that day, stating of her son: “He’d hate to be used for a lie. I don’t care if they put a bullet through my head in the middle of the night. I’m not stopping," from a Sports Illustrated article.

Tillman was a man of dualities, a proud atheist who read both the Bible and the Quran, a hater of the wars he participated in, even as he trained to become a more useful tool for his military’s use, a man famous before his enlistment who refused to become a hero, yet was made one amidst a series of lies. It is almost exactly 20 years since Pat’s death and his memory lives on, immortalized against his wishes as an American war hero.

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