A former Army Ranger who was on the mission in Afghanistan when Army Ranger Pat Tillman was killed in 2004, told ESPN's "Outside The Lines" on Sunday that it was apparent to the platoon after only "a few days" that Tillman was killed by friendly fire and that it was "about time" that those responsible for the missteps in the aftermath of the incident be punished.
In a phone interview with ESPN, Brad Jacobson also said that the officers in the chain of command also had to have known shortly after Tillman's death that he wasn't killed by enemy fire.
A Pentagon investigation will recommend that nine officers, including as many as four generals, be held accountable for missteps in the aftermath of the friendly fire death of Tillman in Afghanistan, senior defense officials said Friday.
ABC News reported that a three-star general will be among those accused of mishandling the information after Tillman's death. Lt. Gen. Philip Kensinger, who was commander of U.S. Army Special Operations when Tillman died, will be one of the officers held responsible for the mishandling of information, a senior defense official told ABC News.
"Most of the officers within the immediate chain of command probably suspected within a day or two of the shooting itself" that Tillman was killed by friendly fire, Jacobson told ESPN.
Jacobson, said he was "appalled" after watching Tillman's memorial service, in which it was portrayed that Tillman was killed in an ambush, by enemy fire. Jacobson didn't see the memorial service until two years after it took place.
"I was absolutely appalled that they would have given him that with such conviction when they knew something else was going on," Jacobson told ESPN.
The Army persisted in telling Tillman's family he was killed in a conventional ambush, including at his nationally televised memorial service 11 days later. It was five weeks before his family was told the truth, a delay the Army has blamed on procedural mistakes.
"It's about time something happened to somebody that was indirectly responsible for what happened afterward," Jacobson told ESPN.
Jacobson is one of five men on the mission with Tillman who were interviewed by ESPN for an "Outside the Lines" program that aired last October. The five are the only Rangers who served on the mission to be interviewed on-camera.
Defense officials say the report will not make charges or suggest punishments, but it will recommend the Army look at holding the nine officers accountable. Officers from the rank of colonel and up will be blamed in the report, according to one officer who has been informed of the findings.
It appears, one defense official said, that the inspector general will not find there was an orchestrated cover-up in the probe, which has focused on how high up the chain of command it was known that Tillman's death was caused by his own comrades.
Tillman died in Afghanistan's Paktia province, along the Pakistan border, after his platoon was ordered to split into two groups and one of the units began firing. Tillman and an Afghan with him were killed.
Since the incident, the Army has moved to improve the notification procedures and now requires an officer to review initial casualty information and verify that the families have been told the best, most accurate information.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.