WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Cpl. Patrick Tillman, who spurned a $3.6 million football contract to join the U.S. war on terror, probably was killed by “friendly fire” while trying to protect his unit during a clash in Afghanistan (news - web sites) last month, the military said on Saturday.
An investigation of the April 22 death of Tillman, 27, an ex-safety for the Arizona Cardinals whom the military had earlier said was killed by enemy fire, did not blame any individual by name, the U.S. Central Command said in a statement.
“While there was no one specific finding of fault, the investigation results indicate that Cpl. Tillman died as a probable result of friendly fire while his unit was engaged in combat with enemy forces,” it said.
Having been in an infantry unit, while this story is very unfortunate, night-ops are very difficult and dangerous. It’s easy to get confused in the dark and mistake something as being other than whatbit is. You have to have the utmost discipline, and if you end up in a fire-fight, things can go wrong quite quickly. I’m surprised we don’t hear about these types of things every day.
I have a feeling this issue is going to become VERY politicized, just because his death was a high profile story in the first place. And that will be very sad. Regardless of how his death went down, he is still an American hero in my eyes, and I’ll take NOTHING away from his comrades. They are doing an impossible job. I wish them all the best and pray for them every chance I get.
It does suck.
And it doesn’t take anything away from his heroism and self-sacrifice, or that of his comrades. His service was nothing but noble.
I agree with vitus979 on this one. The battlefield is an increasingly deadly environment with more lethal weapons than any time in history and a greater reliance on communications in a close-quarter combat setting. Blue-on-blue engagements have accounted for an increasing number of U.S. casualties. Despite improving IFF (Identification Friend/Foe)technologies, once a bullet leaves the barrel you can’t call it back or turn it. Yet.