In the end, Pat Tillman died for the sake of a broken Humvee.
Out patrolling the Afghan back country with fellow Rangers in
search of Taliban and al Qaeda militants, one of the Humvees in
his unit broke down so completely that it couldn’t be repaired
on site, and the vehicle couldn’t be airlifted out of the
wilderness via helicopter because most of the Army’s helicopters
were being used in Iraq, and the Army required four days notice
to send one out in Afghanistan. And it couldn’t be ditched,
because Humvees cost money.  So Tillman’s regiment was ordered
to split in two against the wishes of everyone in the group,
including the platoon leader in charge, who made repeated
requests to command to keep the group united, all of which were
denied without much explanation. This was done because towing
the Humvee out of the woods was going to throw the regiment off
schedule. They were due to reach the town of Mana that evening
and conduct a sweep for enemy combatants. But there was no dire
need to get to Mana so quic