Lane, a specialist, served alongside Pat Tillman, the former NFL overachiever, as they hunted for Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. On the evening of April 22, 2004, Lane was a radio telephone operator in the lead half of a split platoon, along with Tillman, part of a convoy in southeastern Afghanistan. Lane was positioned less than 100 yards up the steep ridge from Tillman. Gunfire commenced and Lane was shot in the left leg and survived, Pat Tillman did not survive.