Pat Tillman.

Last night the manfriend and I watched a great documentary, The Pat Tillman Story, directed by Amir Bar-Lev. I've been very intrigued by Pat Tillman for awhile now reading two books about his life and it's tragic end. Those books were, Jon Krakauer's Where Men Win Glory (amazing) and Mary Tillman's Boots on the Ground by Dusk: My Tribute to Pat Tillman. 

Pat Tillman was an NFL football player who after the events of September 11th, signed up with his brother to be an Army Ranger leaving a five million dollar contract with an NFL team. While serving Pat was killed in Afghanistan. 

What is most tragic about Pat's story was that at first his family was told he was killed in the line of duty and would be awarded a Silver Star for his heroism during the firefight. Weeks later after his death and memorial service his family found out that Pat wasn't killed in Afghanistan by the enemy but was in fact killed by fratricide "friendly fire".  Fratricide unfortunately happens in the fog of war, but in Pat's case things just didn't add up. 

His mother began investigating what really happened to Pat and what she uncovered was unbelievable to say the least. There were so many discrepancies in the documents, it was clear that the government used Pat's death to promote their foreign politics, such as the War in Afghanistan. The painted Pat as a war hero who left the NFL joined the Rangers and died in a heroic battle, when that clearly wasn't the case. 

The documentary goes through Pat's life and what he was really all about. We see how hard his family has worked to bring justice and light to what really happened to Pat. They've done everything to prove there was a massive cover up in his death. We also see how backwards our government can be at times, and that is a very sad sight. 

Definitely take the time to check out this documentary, read one of the two book or do all three like myself. The story of Pat's life will intrigue you to say the least. 

Pat's wife Marie has also set up a foundation in Pat's name and every year there is a 4.2 mile race at Arizona State University's Sun Devil Stadium. All the proceeds from the race go towards the Tillman Military Scholars Program. Here is the link to the Pat's Run page Pat Tillman Foundation.