Members of Tillman's unit burned his body armor and uniform in an apparent attempt to hide the fact that he was killed by friendly fire. His notebook, in which, according to author Jon Krakauer, Tillman had recorded some of his thoughts on Afghanistan, was also burned; "a blatant violation of protocol".

I remember back then when it came out that he was killed by friendly fire, which was not the original story, that the friendly fire story wasn't that believable either, at least not to me. This isn't friendly, it's murder. I know so many of our guys were in countries where they had to stand by while children were sexually molested, because it was allowed in that country. How many of those accounted for the suicides when they came home? The poppy fields we guarded, etc. I am sure President Trump is making terms for the future very clear.