During the April 24, 2007 “battlefield misinformation” hearing held by the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Army Specialist Bryan O’Neal describes Pat Tillman’s April 2004 death in Afghanistan by “friendly fire.”
Video Transcript
plus in your own words what happened
right before and after corporal tillmanwas killedwalk us through this is uh... as much
detail as you can recallwhat was corporal tillman doing at the
time was he trying to signalthat uh...that uh... this might be friendly fire
resistant with his arms was yelling whatwas he saying could you just tell us
about ityes rowdywhen we've moved into our final positionat night in the afghan militiamen had
decided there was decided that we willcontinue to assaultand he wanted further tightenings from
swine leader that was controllingelementso he left myself an air mattressand when he returnedhe basically let me know that we were
going to continue moving group in theroute that we wereand before he was able to finish telling
you what our plan waswe have started to receive fire from
g_n_p_at first it was short sporadic we didn't
really i don't really understand what'shappeningi looked and saw that it was friendly
fire coming towards usuh... pat asked me basically what was
going on and i let him knowand uh... it didn't take too long before
those in the g_n_p_course about that but i'mthis mound and open up on us with the
fifty caliber machine gun and the twoforty bravo machine gunand basically shot us at us anyways of
bursts of roundsat that timei felt myself become waveguidejot downhad no copper pat and there was nothing
blocking my side chainthe people at home be shooting at usuntil the pack had basically was able to
get himself behind some coversbut it was not muchno basicallywas yelling waving from on the ground as
much as i could and i believe pat wastoo at the time peaches behind metalking to and yelling screamingprinter was going on whenhe told me he had a planat that time i thought depend on flyer
now to signal the troops down and angieand be aware families but later
discovered he had puff of smoke grenadeandafter he had done that's the firing
ceased in the trucksoldwe had both leaves at that time vatshootings overand that they had recognize this is from
his andwe both step upface each otherwas kind of wondering hey what has
happened there what was actionuh... lucklywe're both still alivealoneit didn't take long after that served
four daymoved into a better position as i said
uh... commission v and started shootingat us againand at that timeport of us had gotten downi was watching them do that andi could hear pat calling stock shooting
on pat haven't ehlmannstop shootingyou know over and over and over again
andi could hear the payment yet news for usso i known that he was hard at that timeand uh...it abruptly stopped with himcalling for helpand it wasn't too long after that before
the truck and moved outus who are late on my side for a while
wondering what has happenedbecause i was young artdidn't really understandwhen i discoveredwas large pool of blood forming up
aroundyou have any doubtglide at that time there was friendly
fire that killednow sir i'm one hundred percent positive
that was from the fireand who was the first person you
informedthat the attack may have been a friendly
fires shippingthe very first person i informeduh... was right afteruh... i got up to check on patdiscovered he was deadmanthe guys qualify calls for came to my
positionandi believe he knewbut when our medicaid markeduh...to come assist usuh... he asked what happened and i try
to let him know who is he identified thename there'll be sergeant andersonsoldiers and hebasically asked me what happened i try
to let him know wantsour squad leader told me basically just
don't say anything at that timeand later on that nightthe first person idefinitely told would be specials writer
larry orwe were inside the womb village were
being but what we had uh... aqawhat we've done a set of positionand point security on the uh... personal
that lived in a villageand he asked me point-blank do you know
what happened and i formed yes this wasfrom the fire's did you grow up in form
for sargent thomas fulleryes i did strike one time later that
night that it was from the fire butcommand sergeantalfred perchyes right he knew at the time sir and
mohabbat lisa sergeant ward you didinformi wasn't adnan abu e-vite also towardi was pretty into account that timei was going into shock i believesergeant jacksonsurgeon jackson i definitely told it was
twenty four hoursnow let me turn to
A full wrap up of the festivities surrounding the opening of the Hoover Dam Bridge that is officially named the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge.
Tillman Military Scholars Richard Garcia and Melissa Stroh. Highlights from the 6th annual Pat's Run held Saturday, April 17, 2010 at ASU's Sun Devil Stadium.
Feature and coverage courtesy of Fox Sports Arizona.
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/
Marie Tillman and Darnell Dockett invite you to help our veterans and their families continue their education and return to work.
Text TILLMAN to 50555 to make a $10 donation to the Tillman Military Scholars program today.
$10 will be added to your phone bill/deducted from your personal account. Message and Data rates may apply. Reply STOP to 50555 to stop. Full terms: mGive.org/t
Arizona Cardinal football player turned Army Ranger, killed in action during operation Iraqi Freedom. Tyler Griffin Reporting (2004) - www.Mindshift-Media.com
"Only On The Web": Pat Tillman's death by friendly fire cast a shadow on the U.S. military. Katie Couric says Tillman's death is a tragedy made all the more tragic by the military's handling of it. (CBSNews.com)
August 1, 2007, Congressional Hearing of the death of Army Ranger Pat Tillman, who died due to friendly fire. However, the family of the fallen soldier and the American people were not told this information until a month after. In this clip, Rumsfeld apologizes for the situation being poorly handled.
Through remarks and conversation with Tillman Military Scholars from the Harvard community, Marie shared her own story, and offered insight on how to translate moments of personal tragedy, adversity, and reflection into catalysts for positive social change.
The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform holds a hearing entitled "Misleading Information from the Battlefield." The hearing focuses on the death of Army Ranger Specialist Patrick Tillman in Afghanistan and the capture and rescue of Army Private Jessica Lynch in Iraq. The Committee examines why inaccurate accounts of these two incidents were disseminated, the sources and motivations for the accounts, and whether the appropriate Administration officials have been held accountable. Rep. Bruce Braley questions whether edits were made to original reports about the incident that resulted in Tillman's death.
