A documentary film is being released which chronicles the death of American football player turned Army Ranger, Pat Tillman. Tillman left his professional sports career and enlisted in the U.S. Army in June 2002, in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks. After serving several tours of duty, he was killed in the mountains of Afghanistan on April 22, 2004. Initially, the Army claimed that Tillman was killed by Taliban forces during an ambush, but weeks afterward, the Army revealed to the family that he was actually killed by friendly fire.
Producer John Battsek worked in conjunction with Tillman’s family to bring the story to light. Documentary director Amir Bar-Lev claims, “What the Tillman story taught me is that we might find that there are more heroes around us if we begin understanding heroism with a little more complexity.”
MOMism: “Sometimes the truth hurts.” Sometimes when our KID-Os mess up, they want to give us some sort of fabrication of the truth, a story where they may not appear as culpable or guilty. But we need to remind them that there is never a substitute for the truth. Although the truth may be difficult at times, and produce the type of consequences that they are trying to avoid, it is always the best course of action. Eventually, the truth comes out.
The death of a child is every parent’s worst nightmare. There is nothing that will bring the Tillman’s beloved son back…and nothing that can take away the pain. However, a cover up of the facts and the destroying of evidence by the government only belittles his life and dedicated service. The truth should be told to the Tillman family, so the healing can begin.
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