Remembering Pat Tillman: An American Patriot, NFL Player, and Army Ranger whose Friendly Fire Death was Turned into War Propaganda

The white pill and black pill saga of NFL Army Ranger Pat Tillman, who was killed in Afghanistan 19 years ago on April 22, 2004 at the age of 27

Comrades: Pat Tillman’s life was as much a white pill and as his death was a black pill.

Few people are true heroes and role models. Pat Tillman stands as one of the giants in post-9/11 America. In How To Be a Heroic Hotshot, I honored his fellow Arizonans - the Granite Mountain firefighters who perished saving lives in 2013. Today we honor his story. At the end, I have highlighted another warrior named Jonny Kim whose legend grows every day.

Remember how Pat Tillman lived and how he died. Let us build a society worthy of his sacrifice. If all boys were raised to be men like him and Jonny Kim, we would not have any of the problems we are seeing today.

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Pat Tillman was born in 1979 in a military family and grew up in idyllic New Almaden, California. From a young age, he displayed immense character and purpose. He was the star of his high school football team, but was not heavily recruited to college or the pros because of his lack of “elite metrics” and “athleticism”. That only fueled him to excel further to become the defensive leader of Arizona State and then the Arizona Cardinals. He was a devoted family man who married his high school sweetheart Marie. The antithesis of the dumb jock stereotype, he was a scholar-athlete principled patriot who graduated summa cum laude in 3.5 years. He even got a masters in history on top.

After 9/11, Tillman felt the call to serve. He turned down a $3.6 million NFL contract to enlist in the Army Rangers alongside his brother Kevin. No other pro athlete volunteered to fight for the country that had given them the privilege to get rich through sportsball. He did not want any spotlight about his service and avoided the press. Like many soldiers, he thought he would go fight al Qaeda in Afghanistan but spent time in Iraq where grew disillusioned, calling the invasion and occupation “fucking illegal”.

The mission that resulted in his death was FUBAR on every level. Senior officers sitting in front of laptops far away assigned his platoon on a “check the box” itinerary to clear random villages. In order to stay on an arbitrary timeline, his commanding officer was ordered by those distant superiors to split his squad. They were forced to slowly tow a broken humvee through a narrow valley that was a perfect ambush position. This was especially galling when 17 years later, Biden left $80 billion in military equipment behind during its disastrous withdrawal.

After a firefight broke out, Tillman sprang into action and moved to the high ground. Amid the chaos, he realized that he and two squadmates were being shot at by their own comrades. Their Afghan ally was killed. Tillman began frantically waving his arms and threw a smoke grenade to signal that he was a friendly, yet he kept taking fire. He screamed his final words in an attempt to stop the madness: “I’M PAT FUCKING TILLMAN!”

Then 3 machine gun bullets exploded through his forehead. The Americans who shot him were only 30 yards away. That is the distance on a football field where Tillman, as a safety, could clearly see a quarterback’s face and eyes.

The coverup began within minutes, before his blood had even dried. His platoon was sworn to secrecy and had to lie to Tillman’s brother and family. From The Intercept:

The military’s initial investigation, filed days after the incident, which described acts of “gross negligence” and called for the Army Criminal Investigation Command to determine whether shots were fired with “criminal intent,” was buried. In an echo of the Lynch episode, the Bush administration and the U.S. military shamelessly ran with the fabricated account of Tillman’s death. In the hours after Tillman was killed, his uniform and personal effects were destroyed, meaning key forensic evidence — of what many men in his platoon knew was a case of fratricide — was lost. Tillman’s fellow soldiers were told to keep quiet, including in their conversations with his brother Kevin, who was on the mission but at a different location when the fatal shots were fired. Right away, the military lied to Tillman’s parents, initially telling the family that an enemy combatant killed their son as he stepped out of a vehicle. The military kept the truth from them through Tillman’s memorial service, allowing the SEAL who cared for Tillman and his brother to unknowingly describe to the entire country a sequence of events with even more embellishment… It would take four years of digging, led chiefly by Mary; seven official investigations; and two congressional hearings before some semblance of the truth surrounding Tillman’s death was pried from the government.

The entire chain of command knew. From Stanley McChrystal, to Donald Rumsfeld, to George W. Bush. Neocon warmonger John McCain spoke at Tillman’s funeral:

The GAE MIC further dishonored Tillman and his family by using him as propaganda. He specifically stated that he didn’t want a military funeral or to be paraded through the streets. Yet that is exactly what they did to keep pushing their forever wars, which have now fallen apart.

The National Archives’ exhibit “All American: The Power of Sports” was subversive on so many levels. Pat Tillman was killed by friendly fire, warmonger George W Bush and his neocon goons covered it up, and Megan Rapinoe should not be honored anywhere. It is heinous to include her as a hero alongside Tillman, who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. I had a nice moment with the security guard and a fellow guest who all shook their heads at this display, knowing that the government lied and has the nerve to flaunt it here.

The 2023 Superbowl continued to milk the propaganda narrative for the Pat Tillman Foundation:

How To Root for Pro Sportsball

For further reading, I recommend Boots on the Ground by Dusk by Pat’s mother Dannie Tillman and Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer. I had a hard time making it through both books because of anger and sadness. However, we must arm ourselves with knowledge to steel ourselves to keep fighting for truth and justice. Last weekend, 30,000+ people honored Tillman at Pat’s Run. A mural was also unveiled at the newly built Pat Tillman Middle School:

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Jonny Kim is already a legend and hasn’t even turned 40. He is the only man on the planet who is a Navy SEAL, Harvard trained doctor, and now a NASA Astronaut who will be going to the moon in 2024.

We need more kids to become Jonny Kims. He overcame poverty, an abusive father, and growing up in leftist Santa Monica to become a tip of the spear patriot and pioneer. Ever humble, he avoids the spotlight but shared every part of his story with his former commanding officer in this 4-hour podcast:

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Now the Pentagon, like all other institutions, has fallen to DIE. Why would anyone take up arms for a demoralized country that pays DIE commissars multiples more than front line troops? That is why DIE is so insidious. It demoralizes boys so much that they would never make sacrifices for this country like Tillman and Kim have.

A white pill to conclude this post. Any other country with institutions as rotten as ours would have collapsed by now. The spirit of the American people is resilient in maintaining relative peace and prosperity. Keep making yourself, your loved ones, and your communities stronger. That is the best way to subvert subversion and counter the cultural revolution.

One of my friends, whose family also escaped communism, recently quit his job to enlist in the military. He will serve our country with honor. Let us pray that the people leading him do the same so he can live a long, healthy life with his family.

Save Private Ryan from the WEF Wehrmacht:

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