Jake Plummer On Pat Tillman Death

On HBO’s Inside the NFL, Peter King interviewed Denver QB Jake Plummer about the horrific treatment the Tillman family have received over Pat’s death. There have been four investigations into what really happened to him and now a fifth one is getting close to being completed. How reprehensible has this been for the Tillman family? Pat is killed and they were repeatedly lied to. The family is not speaking out, but Plummer is. Good for him. Somebody has to.

For more on this, see:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/09/25/MNGD7ETMNM1.DTL

Kevin Tillman joined the Army with his brother Pat in 2002, and they served together in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pat was killed in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004. Kevin, who was discharged in 2005, has written a powerful, must-read document.

See: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/200601019_after_pats_birthday/

Video Transcript

my great grandfather was a pearl harbor and a lot of my family is given up unitis gone fought in wars and that really under the damn thing this forest landmyself a line like that and so i have a great deal of respect for those thathave and with the flag stands forroseswhen we were in huddlehe'll say the lord's prayer it always looked up and and look at him card gamesin arizona soi looked up andhe's not there but i can see himnearly every day for the past four yearsin his heart in his headjake plummer seen a vision of his friend pat tillmanlibros into sampatwith those solomon ahead locked in some tape that's hope that you know you cando anythinghouse synchronize the come back to war herosee among c_n_n_of some of the headline wrestle around the somethingsettlement didn't come home with the lotinstead like the nearly three thousand other american servicemen and womenkilled in the war on terrorhe came home in a flag-draped coffinfor america's most famous soldier pupils and bagpipes played from coast to coasthis memorial service was a nationally televised political extravaganzasenator john mccain among others delivering eulogiesi will rememberbut his family in this countrylost a good manand i will celebrate the briefbraveand happy lifeuh... petronethe public was toldhilemon died warriors therecharging up a hillurging honest fellow rangers in a fight with taliban soldiers and al-qaedaheat made the call he does not his troopstaking a fight to the enemy up illto seize the tactical hard groundfrom the enemyhe directly save the lives of thatthat sacrifice himself so with rush commandthe memorial one often wasn't amazing there but he was thereyou talk about him as a friendthere's so much morewhen people will ever knowhas its own uniqueand so many waysthe narrative seemed perfectwar hero in football star dice fighting terrorwe now know of course that was always charadepat tillman was killed by friendly fireand the army do itand i just think their news from the fire thereexist it makes you sickwhen you firstfound out that invaded the so-called irregularitiesworry you realitieswas made for a concertdid take cover up something like thatfor whatever reasonwe were all led to believe thatnew leading his troops up the hilland they come tell us that it wasn't was from the firewhat can you do your here at their mercy and thenhis feel for the familyfor the past two and a half years petulance family has been at the mercyof a government seemingly either unableor unwilling to tell them the full truth about the circumstances surrounding passdeathtime after time their demands for answers have been met with inconsistentexplanations and secrecyinvestigation results indicate that purple tillmanprobably died as a result of friendly fireall his unit was engaged in combatwith enemy forcesit is hoped the difffifth official investigation currently being conducted will clear up the messe-faxlike many of those who knew and loved pat tillman jake plummer has plenty ofquestionsand isn't sure if he can ever trust the answerswhat questions do you havefor the government about the way peptideofi think we know how he died assistresponse shots and whyand wildlifeit's back towhat pat was aboutwhat he stood forgive us a little bit about integrity list you've got back to his familybecause that's what he was aboutconvinced that there was an extensive insignificant cover-up by the militarysurrounding pat stepstillman family particularly pat's parents patrick senior in maryspent much of the last two years quietly pushing for a criminal probe into thematter without fanfarepast mother and father hivpretty much stayed out of the spotlightfrom your contact with the family how how is the family doingthey're not doing greatmailhostingserver miller sons was an amazing person butif i didn't hurtfind some answers intel to make what happened to him rightpeople say you know you gotta move on you gotta move on and and they're justmove on from what you have newtell me i gotta move on and this is because this is my brother's righthusband my sonwhat's your sense about how they feel about the misinformation that has beenput out about that stuffalthough they're upsetthat timenot to have had contact with his mother back and arizonashe's an amazing woman every time she tries to do some to speak about her sonbeing children no used as propaganda and it'sit's it's gotta be toughand it's free themheavy demands accountabilityplumber doesn't try and pass himself off as an expert on warrants ambiguitieshe's just a football player and an americanone of thousands who've lost someone they love the knees recent conflictsbut he understands that his public persona gives him a platformso while the tell men's work quietly behind the scenes plumber with theirblessing is speaking outthey want all of us to the american people lied about a person thatnever videi believeback to earth and he pulled the triggersort of his ownthat were activity to bid on that doorsteptalking their family and apologizingasking for forgiveness because that's just passed outeven after two-and-a-half years you still get very emotional about thathard to saytalk about things maybe thatfamily doesn't want to talk about here talk aboutenough kindathen the guy that just before thenat a respected out of love about itadmiration for pat that's what i'll continuedtape for mistakes with considerable clarity impassioned appeal a questionarisesthere are friendly-fire deaths in every war part of the so-called fog of war orin some cases it's just incompetence but why would the government attemptedcover-up an incident like this since given at someone's prominence given thefact that other people with their the facts are what they are there's almostno way that cover-up could have heldbut do you have just underscored with that lead inwhypat tillman sf friendsand why jake plummer and the family wider so outraged they don't believethey've heard several different explanationsthey know that there's a cover-up and sitting across from jake plummeryou could just feelthe outrage you could feel the passionbecause one of the his best friends in the world died and he still has not beentold a straight answer whythere is another investigation ongoing we're told it wilson reach itsconclusionand the results will be made publiccattlemen family hopes that this will be a credible report that not only willprovide some closure however inadequateregarding his death but will take the focus off the circumstances of his deathand put it back on his life and what he died forwhat people should know but excellent boba renaissance man who's a better person and he was a football playerit'd thanks very muchok we'll move forward now and back to the field into tennesseethe jets were in town and to tighten center kevin the why the season openeragainst his old teamheld a bit of extra added me

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