Do they really need to know it was friendly fire? I can understand a human temptation to want to water down the truth, say when reporting a death to a family. But the military is not new to this business and should know better than to cover up such things, as was evidently done in the case of Pat Tillman. That he died as he did does not take away from the fact that he was a self-sacrificing hero, like so many others who serve the United States. And as for his family: He died. That’s the most hurtful fact. The rest are just details. As for the public, the military should be playing it straight. Those putting their lives on the line deserve that.