When Pat Tillman passed up a lucrative professional football contract to join the military, he became a poster boy for Army recruiting. He and a brother enlisted after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and his Army Ranger unit took on celebrity status.
And when he died on a ridge in Afghanistan in April of 2004, the military waited until after a Silver Star was awarded and the memorial service held in May to confirm Cpl. Tillman was indeed the victim of friendly fire. It took five weeks for the family to find out the truth, a delay the Army blames on procedural errors.
Mr. Tillman's family and fellow soldiers deserve better. The Army this week announced nine high-ranking Army officers, including four generals, made critical errors in reporting the death and will be held accountable.
The Associated Press reports the Army and Defense Department investigators said officers involved in the probe passed along misleading and inaccurate information and delayed reporting their belief that Mr. Tillman was killed by his fellow soldiers.
Mr. Tillman's mother, interviewed on National Public Radio Tuesday morning, said the Army had treated her family poorly throughout the entire ordeal. She said the lies delivered to them about her son hurt them deeply.
Families deserve the truth, as best as the Army knows it and as fast as they know it. Anything less is makes their sacrifice seem hollow.
