When we first heard about it, the Big Guy shrugged his shoulders and said, "He was fragged." And it wasn't a big deal. The topic of Tillman came up here and there, sporadically, the way news does when it's shiny and there's nothing much else to talk about. The general concensus amonst the various combat arms folks, especially the been-there-killed-the-enemy-got-the-medal-to-prove-it kind, we know is that it was Tillman's fault he got fragged.

I remember being 19 and watching the Big Guy pack his ruck for Desert Storm nee Sheild. He and his buddies talked about fragging casually, as if it was kind of a pressure valve. Of course, they had a raging asshole for a First Sergeant. The morality of fragging is pretty clear cut to us civilians. You don't shoot the people on your side. That's what we call murder. You shoot the people on the enemy's side. That's what we call casualty of war. The difference to the guys with the M-16s and a battleground is that a raging asshole isn't someone you can just flip off and bitch about to your significant other when you get home. You have to follow Raging Asshole's orders. Even worse, raging assholes are the kind of people that get you killed just by being there. They make stupid decisions for stupid reasons. They decide to put your life and health on the line for their own egos, for their own machismo, for chest cheese--medals. The worst part about it is that you can't count on them to get your back. They're not there for you when you need them. Do the people who have to die so that Raging Asshole can pick up a silver star or prove their dick is bigger have any real recourse? The answer is no. You can't sue a guy for being a raging asshole (though he'll be more than happy to Article 15 your ass out of the service). You can't take it up the chain of command. What are you going to say? "Sergeant Major? Please do something about First Sergeant because he's going to get everyone killed over a penile inferiority complex." They know it. They're stuck with him, too. So the raging asshole gets fragged.

So along comes Tillman, who does this magnificent, heroic thing. He trades a life of fortune and fame in the NFL for military service. He goes through ranger school and he faces down the enemy with his group and gets executed by his own people. We aren't, and never will be, privy to what kind of person Tillman was--though current news reports point directly toward the Raging Asshole hypothesis--or what the shooter was thinking. The shooter could have been a raging asshole himself who'd gotten sick and tired of the Tillman Show stealing his glory and limelight.

I have yet to discuss this issue with a combat veteran that didn't think that Tillman was fragged and, more importantly, didn't think that Tillman didn't deserve it. The usual response, "He probably got what was coming to him." In my experience, the sympathy clearly isn't with Tillman (though most feel for his family); it's with the people that had to put up with him. The underlying assumption is that soldiers don't perpetrate friendly fire without good reason. Of course, the source should be considered both for its experience and for the brotherhood that may warp viewpoints.

For most of us, it's unthinkable to assume that someone deserves to be fragged. For others, it started with Drill Sergeant, who punished everyone for one person's infraction until the group took it into their own hands and made that person stop infracting. And then Drill Sergeant would find something else. Fragging is the final act in a trained mindset. Is this good or bad? That depends on how you define justice.