Death Of A Volunteer: One For The Team

PAT TILLMAN--FOOTBALL STAR, RANGER--DID NOT ASPIRE TO HEROISM. BUT HIS LIFE DEFINED IT

Last December, a few days before the Arizona Cardinals were set to play the Seattle Seahawks, Dave McGinnis, then the Cardinals' head coach, got a call from U.S. Army Specialist Pat Tillman. Eighteen months after trading his Cardinals jersey for government-issue camouflage and six months after returning from a tour of duty in Iraq, Tillman was back with his 75th Army Ranger Regiment at its base in Fort Lewis, Wash. Soon he would ship out again, this time to Afghanistan. But now he wanted to come see his old team play.

The night before the game, Tillman showed up at...

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