"The Tillman Story" provides the details of his death, and they are tragic and dispiriting. The details of his life, however, are compelling. The Tillman we meet is the kind of vital, evolving and ferociously independent American of which the country, in its dull partisan dotage, produces far too few.
Tillman, we learn, was raised by big-city refugees who moved to rural California so their three boys could roam free, and they did. Pat and his two brothers lived out of doors, without television, without phone privileges.
They were encouraged to be free thinkers, to follow their hearts and minds, not hewing to any particular creed or religion, but free to choose any or none.
Tillman grew into a star athlete and good student. He attended Arizona State on scholarship, and actually functioned as a scholar, graduating with honors, continuing to play football in the NFL as a standout safety. He married his high-school sweetheart, lived in a modest home, rode a mountain bike to practice, never owned a cell phone, never lost his voracious intellectual curiosity.
It's Tillman's upbringing and resulting character that lend a special heartbreak to his death. We teach our children to think for themselves, and are sometimes horrified when they do.
Those closest to Tillman are appalled by his abrupt decision to enlist, not long after 9/11, but Tillman is determined. His mother is gripped by premonitions of his death, fulfilled when Tillman is killed by friendly fire.
As shown in the documentary, his squad was split and separated in a blindingly steep valley. Tillman had gone ahead with a few Rangers and an Afghan army soldier. When Rangers to the rear come under fire, Tillman (with the Afghani and a few Rangers) races to a ridgeline to help. Minutes later, when the trailing squad advances and sees the silhouetted figures on the mountain, they fire, killing the Afghani and Tillman.
