Book: Pat Tillman's First Mission Was Jessica Lynch Rescue

[sabra]

Source: ABC News

Author Jon Krakauer's Revealing New Book About Pat Tillman

U.S. Army Ranger Pat Tillman's first mission as an elite Army Ranger in Iraq was the rescue of Pvt. Jessica Lynch, a new book reveals.

And although Tillman played only a bit part in Lynch's rescue, he quickly concluded that the mission had motives beyond military strategy.

"We leave tomorrow,'' Tillman wrote in a series of journal entries in Jon Krakauer's 'Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman," a new book about the tragic friendly fire death of the former NFL star who left a lucrative football career behind after 9/11 to serve in the military.

"This mission will be a P.O.W. rescue, a woman named Jessica Lynch. As awful as I feel for the fear she must face, and admire the courage I'm sure she's showing, I do believe this to be a big Public Relations stunt. Do not mistake me, I wish everyone in trouble to be rescued, but sending this many folks for a single low ranking soldier screams of media blitz."

...

The former Arizona Cardinals hitman was highly-suspicious of being used by his superiors to market a war about which he was openly ambivalent, according to Krakauer's book. When the Army asked Tillman to do media interviews, he refused. And soon after arriving in Iraq as an Army Ranger, he shared his wariness with a friend.

"When we were in Baghdad, our cots were next to each other," Spc. Jade Lane told Krakauer. "Pat and I used to talk at night before we'd rack out. I don't know how the conversation got brought up, but one night he said that he was afraid that if something happened to him, they would parade him through the streets. And those were his exact words: 'I don't want them to parade me through the streets.' It just burned into my brain, him saying that."

Under the 'special instructions' section of a standard Army form, Tillman had scrawled in block letters: "I do not want the military having any direct involvement in my funeral."

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/PatTillman/pat-tillman-jessica-lynch-jon-krakauer-book-details/Story?id=8536693&page=1

[MountainLaurel]

1. Holy crap.

What a coincidence, there. Definitely going to pick this one up and donate a copy or two to the local libraries.

[KingOfLostSouls]

2. Pat Tillman was a truly great hero

he knew what was going on, he joined the military to go after terrorism and saw what began to take shape and knew better.

[NOW tense]

3. Jon Krakauer is a great writer. He also wrote "Into The Wild" n/t

[MountainLaurel]

4. And "Under the Banner of Heaven"

Which revealed the horrors of Warren Jeffs and the FLDSers a decade before the raids and MSM attention.

[paparush]

8. "Into Thin Air" was good too.

[Soylent Brice]

5. this one should stir the hornet's nest...

[Demeter]

6. Sometimes I think all the Democratic hornets are dead

But the GOP bees in the bonnets are alive and well.

[RaleighNCDUer]

9. Wouldn't that be bats in the belfrey? nt

[frylock]

7. i'm really looking forward to reading this

[Joanne98]

10. Maybe they killed him after all.

[pitohui]

11. i know jade lane (he's a pro poker player ) slightly and wonder when his book is coming

he seems like the real deal in person, quiet and not a loud mouth, lately seems to have retreated into the online world tho

when i saw the headline i expected to see that jade's book was finally out, now i wonder if it will be published at all, if he's already told his side of the story to krakauer

[tanyev]

12. Whoa.

There's a must read book.