US Soldier Intentionally Exposes His Position to Draw Fire Away From Squad VID

Originally posted by Druscilla
reply to post by Domo1

 

It's a bit embarrassing. When are girls going to be let into combat roles again?

I doubt that they will be. You can serve frontline in the ATS 1st Chairborne Regiment though!

reply to post by sonnny1


Hey, you asked.


I'm still unsure how you think he should be called a hero. What he did was foolish. From what we see in the clip not only was he pinned down but now his buddies have to go farther into harm's way to extract him. He should be thankful he's still here so that we can make remarks about his actions.

reply to post by Mickierocksman


First of all stop winking at me. It is disconcerting. Secondly I think once you become a part of a group of people that rely so heavily on one another you will lay yourself down for them like family. Whatever the reasons for joining the military don't matter when you can save your family.

reply to post by Domo1


There's a fine line between bravery and stupidity. That is a saying that always makes the rounds on deployment.

Where was his battle buddy I wonder. Were they that spread out that they couldn't communicate verbally? Also most everyone has comms nowadays.

The troops are now issued "GoPro" cameras that hook to their ACH so they can review during their AAR.

I can guarentee you that this cat took a ass chewing for exposing himself in such a manner and a lot of ribbing as well from his team mates.

When you screw up in the military, everyone makes jokes at your expense, until the next guy screws up.

Just hope that you aren't doing it back to back.

I'm glad his body armor stopped the rounds and that his eye-pro saved his sight.

And you're right, your Platoon/Company do become your family, which causes some to make life threatening decisions.

Originally posted by Druscilla
The video camera put us ALL there, so, pretty much anyone and everyone that wants to have a say based on the video, opinion is equal.

Nope. Just because you saw the video doesn't mean you were "there". Not unless someone is shooting at you while you're watching it.

And for those posters here comparing airsoft or paintball to real combat?

I spoke to several friends that are/were Infantry. They weren't too impressed. How can you get pinned down while holding the high ground? And screaming, "I'm hit" at the top of your lungs 30+ times means you're not hit that bad; get up and get back into the fight.

I've watched this video before and was pretty upset on this infantryman's choice of maneuvers.

From watching the video numerous times, it becomes apparent that he did not apply logic and professionalism at all to what he was doing. He should not have went further down the hill, all he did was separate himself more from his squad, endanger himself and also put his squad in a pinch to come help him. Being selfless is one thing in certain situations, but not this one.

The squad had ample amount of time to perform an evasive maneuver, get into a safe position, locate the enemy, and return fire. This infantryman went into "rambo" mode and basically "sprayed and prayed", which was completely useless in his situation.

Now I'm not in the military (yet), but to me the logical thing would have been to run parallel on the mountain side (draw fire from the squad, and making it harder to hit). Going down hill made himself an extremely easy target to hit versus going parallel on the hillside.

There are other things that annoyed me, but it's useless pointing them out.

reply to post by Clisen33

Now I'm not in the military (yet), but to me the logical thing would have been to run parallel on the mountain side (draw fire from the squad, and making it harder to hit).

Watching that video should change your mind on even joining. Along the way you will have some idiot thinking he is Arnold Schwarzenegger...Only listen to what Arnold would say:

I am curious....

For all those who are bashing this Soldier, may I ask how many of you have been involved in Combat?

I do not mean paintball, I mean real combat. Vietnam? Gulf War? Anything?

If you have not been in combat, I think your opinion on how he handled the situation holds very little weight.

reply to post by MrWendal

If you have not been in combat, I think your opinion on how he handled the situation holds very little weight.

It's not how the situation was told, it was how the situation was seen....That leaving it a little more room for argument that maybe the decision to run down a steep slope when enemy fire is coming from the adjacent mountain side was reckless and uncalled for...That one stupid decision could of cost more lives.

I agree that in the heat of battle your decision making process goes out the window and adrenalin becomes the new driver.
In saying that, isn't that what your trained for? aren't you drilled over and over so you know how to make the right decisions?

This guy didn't expose himself to 'draw' fire, if that was his aim why not find a rock and keep shooting 'obviously' so the enemy kept shooting at you while your BEHIND COVER?

Running down the hill and exposing yourself didn't seem like the logical choice, even under fire.

As soon as you saw the first bullet ricochet off the ground surely you'd find cover. This guy didn't.

Secondly you cannot see where the guys are shooting at him from, if they were on the hill, that seems like a pretty long way to take a shot and hit a target. If they were in the house, why become such a target and move down the hill?

If this was his first rotation and he was green, why would they allow him in the field like that?

Dunno, seems weird.. but ive never been in a firefight..

one things for sure, if an enemy opened up on my position im pretty sure my adrenalin and my body would be finding the nearest cover, regardless of anything because i can engage that enemy from behind cover.

reply to post by KonquestAbySS


Politics aside for the reasons for war - I'm choosing to serve in the National Guard where my service is in constant use locally. I know what I'm getting myself into, and also aware of the fact that death can come at a moments notice whenever my unit gets deployed (To be expected).

Things that I will not be doing, is all of the unprofessional hooting and hollering when close air support is called in, wasting high explosive ammunition for the camera, and so on... I can't tell you how much I cringe when I see soldiers act unprofessional in front of the camera, more so off camera. The enemy has their motives for killing you, and you have yours as well. But regardless, we're both human and cheering on the death of your enemy is pitiful - despite of your anger.

A good friend of mine who's in the National Guard (Combat Engineer) told me a story on his last deployment. He said that a couple of the guys who were on their first deployment started to hoot and holler after they detonated a cache of ordnance. As soon as they started their hollering, the Lieutenant yelled at them to "Shut the # up" and act like proper soldiers. I hope there are more Lieutenants or commanders that are like that.

I'm digressing now. The bottom line of the video is that he made some bad choices that could have costed his life and his squad-mates lives.

Originally posted by MrWendal
I am curious....

For all those who are bashing this Soldier, may I ask how many of you have been involved in Combat?

I do not mean paintball, I mean real combat. Vietnam? Gulf War? Anything?

If you have not been in combat, I think your opinion on how he handled the situation holds very little weight.

This is ATS, therefore every opinion is given the wieght that the average member gives to it.

Myself? I think that this Soldier didn't give much thought into his actions prior to taking them. No 3-5 second rush, no looking for cover and concealment prior to rushing forward, plus it looks like he silhouetted himself prior to moving forward.

I don't know what he was thinking. This was not close combat. (Of course, whenever you are getting shot at, it's always close combat).

But once again, I have to ask. Where were his battle buddies. No matter what firefight I have been involved in, I could always see one fellow squadie at a minimum.

I think that he just made a poor choice under the stress of battle. One that he was lucky enough to survive.

Then again, their are those who have jumped on live hand grenades to save the lives of their fellows. They are to be honered.

Now, that is close combat.

Originally posted by Agit8dChop

If this was his first rotation and he was green, why would they allow him in the field like that?

The majority of your post is spot on, with this exception.

A "green" Soldier will never become experianced unless exposed to the hazards of the profession.

I guarentee you that if this Soldier ever becomes a NCO, He will be hard-core in trying to prevent his Joes from ever commiting the same mistake he did.

What's the differance between a war story and a fairy tale?

The Fairy tale starts out with, "Once upon a time,"

A war story starts out with, "No $#!t, there I was,".

reply to post by TDawgRex


That's exactly what I was thinking the whole time and said in my previous post.

I don't know if he was ordered to carry the camera or what, but I think a lot of his actions had to do with it. I for one will not carry a camera (Unless ordered), which requires me to turn the damn thing on in the middle of a combat situation. This is not Battlefield 3.

I don't get why he didn't try and hit them back. I get what he was doing, but he was hit 4 times so the distance did not make it impossible, and he had a decent scope. He should have tried to shoot back at them, not just in the air. Good job, but next time, shoot back!

reply to post by TDawgRex


That’s true, but it just seemed he was out on his own, being on that side of the hill where there are tracks, houses, mountains.

I dunno, I cant say with confidence ive never been anywhere like that, but if it was my first rotation surely my platoon Sgt would make sure i stuck to the group like glue unless extenuating circumstances.

this didn’t become extraordinary until they opened up, and this guy seemed way out on his own before it occurred.

reply to post by sonnny1


Because he is doing its duty, combat duty, and he has not performed above expectations or in a way that made a remarkable contribution to solve a dreaded situation.

That is simple combat, there are even several things that I see strange in the video.
a) There seems not to be anyone around him.
b) His movements from cover and then back to cover had no real gain beyond serving as a target (there are many other ways of doing the same in a less risky way, even without breaking cover, especially at that distance)
c) He screams I'm hit but for the context I read he was not really hit, I understand that there is pain from impact but I wouldn't never drop may weapon like he did or stop firing...

reply to post by Agit8dChop


I'm retired now, but was a Det NCOIC. I always referred to my Soldiers as my kids and often as puppies. Because puppies are always energetic and don't always listen.

As a Det Daddy, I depended upon my Team Chiefs to maintain discipline, if they didn't, I came down hard on them. Nothing personnal.

It seems to me that this cat decided to wander off on his own. And survived paying the piper.

reply to post by Panic2k11



says it was shot from his hands. I agree though. He didn't really look for cover to begin with, and when he was down low he just got up and walked shooting COD style....?.... He could have just picked a good spot and tried to shoot one of them, that would have gotten all their attention.

Originally posted by Panic2k11
reply to post by sonnny1

 

c) He screams I'm hit but for the context I read he was not really hit, I understand that there is pain from impact but I wouldn't never drop may weapon like he did or stop firing...

He dropped the weapon because a round hit the 203 tube.

But he was finally at the end behind some cover. At that point, myself? I would be firing back...being really pissed off that I was hit in the first place.

SAPI armor may stop a bullet, but it still hurts. After a short self assessment, and determining that his main weapon still fired, he should have returned fire again.