December 7, 2004 - Pat Tillman was a hero. In college he was a Saturday afternoon hero, a walk on volunteer who made good. In the pros he was a Sunday hero, the kind they pay $3.8 million to play a tough game. In the Red, White and Blue America’s patriotic fervor that swept this nation after the September 11th attack he was the kind of hero who walked away from riches to serve his country in combat. And on April 22, 2004 he died and the nation believed he died a hero’s death taking the fight to his country’s enemies, His story inspired us at a time when the nation’s war on terror was not going well; when Marines were dying in Fallujah and the President was sinking in the polls. We wrote then about his heroism. http://www.mingreport.com/articles/2004/april/23_goodbye.htm America needed a hero; the Army needed a hero; the President needed a hero.

They awarded him a Silver Star, posthumously. They painted a vivid word picture of number 40’s last action. He died carrying the fight to the enemy, on his feet, shouting commands to his men in the finest tradition of the service. Pat Tillman died and the Army lied with its fictitious invention of a hero’s death. Pat Tillman died on his feet and he was waving his arms and shouting, “I am Pat f***ing Tillman, damn it!” Then he was silent - silenced by a fusillade from a Humvee’s .50 caliber machine gun. His head was gone, blown away for a mistake; blown away on a blown play called down because someone up in the booth wanted one more first down before nightfall blew the whistle to end the first half.

The Army investigated. The Army knew what had happened. They reviewed the game films and they knew who had blown it when they awarded Pat his Silver Star and when they awarded him the inspiring story of his hero’s death. The Army knew and because America needed a hero; the Army needed a hero; and the President needed a hero to balance the killed and maimed Marines falling at Fallujah the Army lied to give him one.

That Pat Tillman died because some up-echelon commander wanted boots on the ground before nightfall doesn’t make him less than a hero. He was a hero before he got to Iraq and before they sent him to Afghanistan. He was a hero when he walked away from the playing fields to volunteer for the killing fields. He was a hero when he answered the call in his heart to serve the Red, White and Blue banner.

But the Army lied, and the White has faded and we are left with only the Red and the Blue.