Pat Tillman lived a glorious life. His daily drive and behavior, exceptional to be honest, puts him a step above the rest of us. His drive brought him success. During high school he was a football phenom, with personal statistics that would have been as impressive as a team's. His behavior earned him respect. He attended college on a football scholarship and earned a 3.84 GPA to avoid the jock stereotype. Eventually becoming an NFL defensive star, it was his sense of duty that took him from the goal lines of the football field to the front lines of the battlefield. He would die in the line of duty, but his death would not be his downfall. The infamous stream of lies fueled by the U.S. government after his death, revealed by John Krakauer in Where Men Win Glory, belittled the man who so courageously walked away from the American dream to die for it. The way our government dealt with his controversial death savaged everything Pat stood for, and I left with a bad taste in my mouth about our "greatest country on earth." Pat was a man who wanted. I wanted to live on the edge, I craved a challenge, I needed to be busy. When he was told in high school that he was too small to play baseball, he chose not to join the chess team, but to lift weights and play football instead. Stubborn and full of arrogance, he would set his own path and stick to it. During the meeting with the coach of the ASU football team, he announced to his superior: “Coach, you can play me or not play me, but I will only be here four years. And then I have things to do with my life (Page 71-72).” Running his own show, he refused to let the world get in his way. Pat lived with a purpose, but he also lived for others... in the middle of the paper... in the press, before his family. Once again, the US government was intentionally ambiguous in explaining the sham of an investigation: "the investigation's findings indicate that Corporal Tillman likely died as a result of friendly fire while his unit was engaged in combat with enemy forces... (Page 361).” realizing they had lied was like the second coming of Pat's death for his family. The fabrication of how he died was almost as shocking as his death. The real shame is not that the government has failed, but the glorious person whose life they have stained. The man who didn't give up on the Army when it was offered to him and decided to finish the three years he signed up for. The man who loved everyone he met before he could talk to them. The man who challenged himself to be his best. A man who was glorious. Gloriously betrayed.