There were many American citizens who felt compelled to do something for their country in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and join the military. None were more famous than Pat Tillman, who quit a high paying, glamorous job playing safety for the Arizona Cardinals in the NFL in May of 2002 to enlist in the U.S. Army.
And in the nine years plus of our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, no soldier's death has been so scrutinized or talked about since Tillman's, when in April of 2004 he was killed by fratricide (friendly fire), a fact that the military initially covered up, which led to several investigations, and the enduring enmity from the Tillman family. That is what is at the heart of the new documentary, The Tillman Story, directed by directed by Amir Bar Lev, and done in cooperation with the Tlllman family.
The story shouldn't surprise anyone who knows the basic outlines of the story, which has also been told in two different books written about Pat, including Boots on the Ground by Dusk, written by his mother Mary; and in 2009, Jon Krakauer of Into Thin Air and Into The Wild fame, wrote Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman.
This article appears in Oct 21-27, 2010.