Hubby and I watched a movie that kept me awake most of the night. Not a horror movie or an action movie. It was a documentary. I look for documentaries and usually enjoy them. Hubby found this one and we looked forward to watching it together.The documentaries I had watched were like mini movies. Narrated by a film person and photographed well.
This movie was real life. Real people. Real emotions.
The real family of Pat Tillman spoke about the way they were told about Pat's death. What followed were years spent searching for truth.
After viewing this movie, I asked myself why. Why is there a term "friendly fire". Blowing someone's head off is not friendly. Why didn't more people come forward when it was obvious they knew the truth. What happened to the five soldiers in Pat's outfit who shot him. How can dishonest men go before a congressional committee and lie and disrespect all the men and women in the armed services and then laugh and shake hands and all but piss on the family they just disrespected. If the death of this one soldier was used for political hype because this young man was in the NFL, why are the deaths of all the other soldiers downplayed so sadly?
Three days earlier I posed a question: Do you know who Pat Tillman was. The reason for asking it in the post was to see if there were other people like me who did not know the full story. 53% of the commenters knew who Pat Tillman was and some of the story. It was a higher percentage than I thought it would be. You all are a well informed bunch of bloggers, and then there are the rest of us. Ha. This was a fun experiment for me, thanks for your answers.
43 comments:
I knew the story of Pat Tillman and thought how terribly tragic it must have been, for his family. If you haven't seen the movie "Taking Chance", I highly recommend it. While it is a film, with actors, I was amazed at the true story it portrayed.
I had not heard of this documentary. I will be checking it out soon. Thanks.
-Don
I, too, had not heard of the documentary - or the movie, for that matter. The term is surely just an oxymoron, like cruel kindness, but I suppose the fire had friendly intent - friendly towards those who suffered, that is.
there was a song years ago "war, huh, what is it good for? absolutely nothing"
Now you have me fully intrigued. I'm going to find this movie so I can hear the full story. Thank you!
I have been aware of his story but I have not seen the documentary.
It was all handled so shockingly wrong.
I am just now catching up here. I had read about how he was killed by his own unit. And that the military tried to cover it up at first. A sad thing. I am not a fan of the military.
I had read about story of Pat Tillman online, but I never saw the documentary and I never saw the movie talked about in the comments.
So sad to think of the family (families) suffering, and all the unanswered questions.
Very informative post.
All the best,
Eileen
I usually avoid movies or documentaries that keep me up at night, but occasionally I find it worthwhile. I think I will find the book and read it. The documentary sounds very disturbing, TB.
The story is just so awful, and the Tillman family has my respect for pushing through all the resistance to find the truth, terrible as it is.
"friendly fire" is an oxymoron, for sure. I admire the Tillman family for uncovering the truth.
I didn't realize there was a documentary. I will definitely check it out.
I loathe the term 'friendly fire', hopefully it'll be dropped soon when news people realise how crass it is.
Sx
The term "friendly fire" has always rubbed me the wrong way.
if i am not mistaken there is a movie out about this as well isnt there...it really is a harrowing tale...friendly fire...ugh....
I think I first heard the term "Friendly Fire" a goodly number of years back when there was a movie, based on a true story, by that name -starred Carol Burnett, as the mother of a young soldier killed by Friendly Fire. I agree with your assessment completely as to the terminology there -how can a killing be considered as being "friendly?" I've read bits and pieces about Pat Tillman over the time since that killing took place but have not seen either the movie or documentary as yet. Sounds like something I would like to watch though to get more information on his death and the circumstances.
Friendly fire just means that the victim was killed or wounded by his friends.....horrible terminology.
I am so against war, there are no winners and more innocent women, children even men are killed than all the soldiers combined in our two major world wars......I shouldn't even get started.
.....:-)Hugs
l'll have to check that film out. I think it was Ike, who knew a little something about the subject, who said "War solves nothing."
Made sense to me.
I guess I missed the other post and your question. But you can add me to the group in the know. I heard the story on NPR one day. There is so much wrong for this to happen. It shakes my belief in a system that I hope is honest and true. I didn't take an oath and put on a uniform for a bunch of liars and others in future will not either. Cover-ups are short sighted.
thanks for this post - even if the subject ticks me off.
I've seen Pat Tillman's brother interviewed a couple of times. He is marvelously outspoken about what happened to Pat.
I have not seen this documentary but will keep an eye out for it. The term friendly fire is repulsive.
I've always been troubled by the term friendly fire. It's insulting to the families of those killed. And I know the Tillman case got some publicity because he was a famous athlete, but is it any worse than all the other senseless deaths?
I knew the basics of the story. It is incredible. Thank you for this.
I am slowly and reluctantly forming the opinion that those in power are there because they are willing to do all manner of things and make all kinds of deals and compromises that the rest of us would simply not tolerate in ourselves.
Friendly Fire is a typical wartime euphemism. I think it happens a lot more than any of us would like to know. I don't know, but when people are in a situation where they are tense, afraid, far from home and armed, it isn't hard to imagine how these tragedies can happen.
Very sad.
Cheers,
Casey
Yes, I knew who Pat Tillman was, but not about the documentary. The story horrifies me, too, on so many levels. With friends like those, who needs an enemy?
And I have always marveled at the term "friendly fire" too. A total oxymoron.
I read an article in the Chicago Tribune about him and the documentary and have been wanting to watch the film/DVD ever since. The article criticized the decision by MPAA to give it an R because of the F word spoken and argued that this is exactly the kind of movie that you'd want High school students to watch. Now I am curious what your take is in that regard?
I don't feel qualified to comment yet, buty ou've made me curious to know more now, thanks for that - I will search for the documentary, and if failing to find that, I might try to see "Taking Chance", instead. I'll happily keep you posted..
I see the anonymous coward who calls himself BOYCOTT AMERICAN WOMEN has visited your blog. He has been over to mine too around Valentine's Day.
I did not know about the movie. There is also a book out about the Pat Tillman story written by the excellent author Jon Krakauer (I have probably misspelled his name).
A true shame, as is much that has to do with our current involvements in foreign lands.
I missed your initial poll, but have followed the Pat Tillman story since it began because Pat is a local boy. It was big news here.
It is a sad, baffling story. It is true that his tale became big news because he had a compelling story and there are many, many others whose stories have not been told.
I choose to believe that God has used what happened to Pat for His good. I don't think He caused Pat do die. But I think He uses tragedy, and the publicity of some high-profile tragedies, for some purpose.
Maybe in this case, it was to shed light on a topic that had not been explored. I don't know. But I do pray for Pat's family and all the families in similar circumstances. Hugs.
No one likes to think that soldiers get killed by their own side - having the enemy try to do that is bad enough!
Friendly Fire (not a good term I know) is not new. Certainly happened in medieval times, the American Civil War has some famous examples and World War 2 is rife with troops being shelled and bombed by their own side.
I think that the main problem is that our governments try to convince us that war can be bloodless, and that we can win a war with little more than a broken fingernail and a few scratched tanks. This is clearly not true, but they find it hard to come out with the nasty truth, that people do die in wars and sometimes you get killed my your mates.
I enjoy watching documentaries too yet they can be disturbing. Gasland was the most recent one I saw and it still sits in the forefront, even more so now that the Japan quake has turned so much inside out as far as safe energy is concerned. Have you seen it?
My hubby and I enjoy documentaries also. Sounds cool. :)
Um, excuse me, but there's an elephant in the room. Is Anonymous who wants to boycott American women for real? People just politely commented around him as if he weren't there, except for Ina, who deserves a shout out for implying that it is not ok to come under cover of darkness and poop on someone's blog.
Seems like I remember part of this story from a 60 Minutes episode. He was still a hero and always will be in my mind.
I'm anxious to see this new documentary being previewed at a film festival in New York. It's about Steve Bartman and is entitled "Catching Hell." Now . . . do you know who he is? Hint: he would rather you didn't.
What an interesting post - very reflective. Thank you for sharing.
I'm very famliar with Tillman's story, and it's incredibly sad. The coverup was sadder still.
I hate war. It makes for good novels and movies, but it's as hard as hell on life.
I see you deleted our woman-hating friend, Anonymous. Thank you, Babe!
The other night I watched the movie Taking Chance. It was quite moving.
Well, I'm reading these posts backwards so haven't gotten to the question, yet. I do know who Pat Tillman was although not much about what really happened. I'm almost afraid to watch that documentary, I have to admit.
The term "friendly fire" is a horrible term and should never, ever have been coined.
I love documentaries although many times I end up feeling angry such as with Tillman's story. It's all so senseless.
I didn't know there was a documentary. Thanks so much for the information. I will definitely check it out.
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