There’s been talk that Pat Tillman, the former NFL player, who quit football to go into the military after September 11, 2001, might have been murdered to bolster the Country’s support of the war, instead of the original story that it was “friendly fire”. Below you’ll find a recent transcript of a portion of the ongoing military investigation.

Testimony in the Criminal Investigation Command Report

(released March 26, 2007)

Lockdown of information

Soldier in the Tactical Operations Command (TOC) center when the death of a soldier, identified by code name, was announced over the radio:

“When this came over the radio … I looked on the alpha roster and discovered that it was Pat Tillman who had been killed. I then told the other personnel who were in the [TOC]. There were four other bystanders in the TOC during this time. We rounded everyone else up to notify them that someone had been killed. The phones and Internet had been cut off, to prevent anyone from talking about the incident.”

Destruction of evidence

Soldier back at the base the evening Tillman’s body was brought in:

“At that time, I was in my tent [REDACTED] came to my tent and put a lock on communications … [REDACTED] then came to me with an orange plastic bag containing Cpl. Tillman’s clothes. He then related that he wanted me to burn what was in the bag for security purposes. Additionally [REDACTED] related he wanted me alone to burn what was in the bag for security purposes to prevent security violations, leaks, and rumors … I then took the bag to the back of [REDACTED]. I got a burn barrel and started it up. I began placing items of clothing into the burn barrel. [REDACTED] came out one time to ensure that everything was going all right … [REDACTED] then came back right at the end when I was finishing.”

This soldier testified he burned Tillman’s uniform, “socks, gloves and I believe the RBA [armor-plated vest] … I vividly recall one armor plate that I burned because … there appeared to be an indentation in the top right corner which I thought may have been where a round had impacted … The RBA itself was soiled with blood.” … He said he also burned a small notebook of Tillman’s.

Soldier from another platoon in the regiment on his actions three days after Tillman’s death:

“Then, after we were back [REDACTED] my 1SG [REDACTED] asked me to come with him to destroy Pat Tillman’s equipment. The first thing I pulled out was his Molle vest. I said to my 1SG that the holes in the vest appeared to be made by 5.56mm [American bullets] not 7.62mm [enemy ammunition]. He said they know and to keep quiet and let the investigators do their job. At this time was when I had realized Tillman may have been killed by friendly fire. At the place we destroyed his equipment there was body armor that was burned completely except for the actual plates.

…The 1SG had me tell him what equipment was being destroyed and he wrote it down. I do not know where the list went after that; I can just assume it was turned into higher.”

Asked why he was told to keep quiet, the soldier said, “…because [REDACTED] did not want me informing unit members that SPC Tillman was killed by friendly fire.” Rather, 1SG wasted the investigation to be the one that put out the official results. He said he did not see bullet fragments with the equipment but “I did see the flashbang [flash grenade] and it had also been hit with a 5.56 round. The last time I saw it was when [REDACTED] had it in an ammo can. He was going to destroy it.”

Quotes from the inspector general’s report

(released March 26, 2007)

Silver star fabrication

“LTC [REDACTED] said that he used the narrative and the two valorous award witness statements attributed to SGT [REDACTED] and PFC [REDACTED] to edit the citation. We interviewed [the two witnesses] who purportedly signed the two valorous award witness statements … PFC [REDACTED] … specifically recalled writing that CPL Tillman’s actions saved his life, but [he] stated that he did not sign the valorous award witness statement … [and] also pointed out parts he knows he did not write and parts that were not accurate.”

“SGT [REDACTED] was not as clear about writing a statement to support the award, but he testified that he might have. He testified that he did not sign such a statement. [He] confirmed some parts of the … statement as accurate. But [he] also pointed out parts that were inaccurate, in that he was unable to see CPL Tillman’s actions from his location. Finally, [he] pointed to a phrase “in the most gallant Ranger fashion” that he found ‘hokey’ and stated that it was a phrase that he would not have written.

“Based on our interviews, we believe the purported statements of SGT [REDACTED] and PFC [REDACTED] were submitted to LTC [REDACTED] by personnel NCOs at 2nd Battalion or at the Regiment, but we were not able to identify the specific drafter.”