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Communication Blunder

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Running head: COMMUNICATION BLUNDER

The Pat Tillman Story
Derek Cooper

Communicating accurate information to unique sections of an audience is extremely important and can make the difference between how an organization is viewed by its stockholders, employees, business partners, customers, media, non-governmental organizations or the general public. Maintaining and bolstering an organization’s reputation is paramount in the world today more so than any other time in recent history, due to the economy and how competitive the market is for businesses. Reputation is the sum of how all constituents view the organization (Argenti, 55). In addition, with the proliferation of the internet and how easily information can be transmitted, a communication error can spiral out of control in very short amount of time.
Throughout the course of an organization’s daily operations, errors will be made involving communication strategies, and how an organization reacts to those problems will determine its fate. The leadership within an organization can make the difference in survival and organizational failure. Corporations should focus on developing and implementing strategies in an integrated fashion across constituencies (Argenti, 55). In this paper, I will discuss a communication blunder, the consequences of the error, and some alternative strategies that may have changed the outcome for the organization and could have netted a more positive result.
The communication error I will be focusing on entails the Armed Forces of the United States and how they handled the death of Pat Tillman. First, it is important to provide background information regarding the communication blunder. Pat Tillman was a professional football player for the Arizona Cardinals that, as a result of the tragedy of September 11th, 2001, was compelled to leave the NFL and a multi-million dollar contract. Pat left a comfortable lifestyle and his new wife to pursue the people who attacked our country ten years ago out of a sense of duty and patriotism along with his brother Kevin who had just signed with the Cleveland Indians to play baseball professionally. At that time, the government made Pat the face of patriotism. He even received a personally signed letter from the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, upon enlistment, which is highly unusual. Donald Rumsfeld also sent a letter to the army secretary expressing his excitement that Pat Tillman had joined the army (Bar-Lev). Tillman’s path in the army led him to being deployed in Iraq for one tour of duty and then to Afghanistan for his second tour of duty. He had only been in Afghanistan for two weeks when he was killed.
The initial announcement was made that Pat Tillman was shot in the head three times during an ambush. The first person that was misled was Pat’s brother, Kevin, who was deployed alongside Pat in Afghanistan. Kevin continued to fight in Afghanistan and finished his tour of duty and his three year commitment to the army. The army promoted Tillman to Corporal and awarded him the Silver Star and Purple Heart posthumously in an expedited process that was signed off on by General Stanley McChrystal, even though they had information at that point that indicated that friendly fire may have killed Tillman (Fish, 2009). The story changed by the time Pat’s memorial service took place to instead suggest that Pat was killed while fighting valiantly against more than ten enemy combatants. Tillman’s heroic story proliferated over the next several weeks and was communicated to the world through print, television, and the internet. President Bush even commented on the tragedy at the annual Whitehouse Correspondents’ Association dinner (Fish, 2009). It was later found that Pat’s helmet, uniform, body armor, and diary had been burned by the army.
Five weeks after the initial report that Pat Tillman was killed in action, the government recanted and said that Pat had most likely been killed by fratricide. It was found later through a leak from the Associated Press that the army had known that Pat was killed by friendly fire. This memo was circulated amongst the generals in the United States Armed Forces and caused serious questions. The media, the general public, and the members of the armed services began to question if someone chose to use Pat’s death as a way to either promote their cause or keep quiet that Pat Tillman was indeed killed by friendly fire. This communication blunder also caused the army and possibly even the White House to lose credibility with the citizens of the United States and possibly the world.
This situation could have been avoided altogether if the army and our government chose not to announce anything to the family and the world other than simply noting that Pat Tillman had died The army is doing a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the attack and his death. Since the army and United States Government chose to tell the public something that either was a blatant lie or misinformation from the people on the ground, the consequences were severe. In fact, there was a Senate Hearing that involved several high ranking officers as well as the Secretary of Defense who took a keen interest in Tillman’s joining the army initially.
Furthermore, there are several people and organizations that would have benefitted from a clearly defined, consistent communication strategy in this situation, with several different constituencies needing to be addressed. If I were to have made recommendations regarding how to handle this situation, I would have determined which constituencies would have been most affected by the crisis (Argenti, 274). For example, if I were the President or the United States Military Communications Director I would have handled the response differently. The President of the United States has the ultimate responsibility as the Commander-in-Chief of the United States and sets the tone for the army. He also needed to address several audiences regarding this crisis including Congress, the army, the media, the Tillman family, the citizens of the United States, and the rest of the world. When considering how the President could have handled this crisis, I believe President Bush should have reached out to the Tillman family prior to going on television and discussing this communication error. The President should have conveyed to the family how sorry he was for their loss and how they had been misled. The President also should have conveyed his desire and efforts to find the truth and reprimand the people who covered up the fratricide.
It would also be important for the President and Secretary of Defense to address the military. I would recommend that this address be an internal meeting only, with no press involved. If Bush did not address the military, the enlisted men and women might wonder what would occur if the same thing happened to one of them during battle. Additionally, if Bush chose not to address the military it could have a negative effect on morale. It could also hurt recruiting, which was very important during this time frame due to the two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Besides addressing the Tillman family and the military, the President should have addressed the nation via television in order to provide immediate credibility to the situation, especially at that point in Bush’s presidency. President Bush should have immediately announced in a television address that a full, transparent investigation will be held to identify what information was known, who knew this information, and who made the decisions to hide the truth. It may have been worthwhile to have brought the platoon that the Tillman brothers served in for individual interviews to see if additional information could be found. The President should also have encouraged people who know information to come forward and tell what happened and provide assurance that they will not be discriminated against by the army for breaking the chain of command. The President should also have gone on to say that anyone found complicit in a cover up will be dishonorably discharged from the armed services. Such a message would hopefully have helped the citizens of the US to regain confidence in the integrity of the office of the President and would have shown that the President was going to hold our government and our military to the highest standards.
Managing your reputation and having a clearly defined communication strategy will provide guidance during times of crisis. Presenting truthful information and the message to your constituencies can make or break an organization. In the case of Pat Tillman, the United States Government and the United States Armed Forces emerged relatively unscathed. I do not believe this result expounds from a sound communications strategy. I think collectively the armed forces and the administration made several large errors and underestimated the Tillman family’s tenacity in seeking the truth. The Pat Tilllman death will be a part of the Bush administration legacy forever; and this legacy could have been prevented with appropriate communication strategies.

References
Argenti. (2009). Corporate Communication. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin
Bar-Lev, A. (Producer & Writer) 2010 The Tillman Story 2010 A&E Indie Films New York, NY
Corliss, R. (2010, August). The Tillman Story's Bitter Truths. Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2011930,00.html Fish, M. (2009). An American Tragedy. Retrieved from http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=tillmantimeline Steiger, K. (2007, August). Tillman Tribulations. Retrieved from
http://prospect.org/cs/articles?article=tillman_tribulations

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