US troops accidentally raid sunflower oil factory in Bulgaria

US troops on a NATO exercise in Bulgaria somehow mistook a small sunflower oil factory for the decommissioned airbase they were tasked with clearing ,the owner is less than pleased and has filed a law suit against those responsible.

Swift Response 2021 was a US army-led multinational exercise held across Estonia, Bulgaria and Romania and involving more than 7,000 paratroopers from 10 Nato countries.

During the drill, members of the Italy-based 173rd airborne brigade simulated seizing and securing the decommissioned Cheshnegirovo airbase in southern Bulgaria by clearing bunkers and other structures, a US army statement said.

On 11 May, American soldiers entered and cleared a building next to the airfield that they thought was part of the training area but turned out to be occupied by Bulgarian civilians operating a private business, according to the statement.

“No weapons were fired at any time during the interaction,” the army statement said.
www.theguardian.com...

All your Sunflower are belong to us.

How is this even possible? Needs to be a full investigation and those responsible jailed for being criminally stupid.

Someone said “oil”. The rest is self explanatory.

1. Invade
2. Spread democracy
3. Secure oil

Keywords are "drill" and "exercise". Better to make these mistakes during such activities than in a live situation.

However, if it were live it really wouldn't be any different unless the business operators were hostile.

Hardly an international incident.

Yawn.🥱

a reply to: gortex

Sounds like the owner is looking to get his palm greased by maneuver damages officer. He'll be handsomely compensated.

Cheers

a reply to: EternalShadow

Nah it's certainly an international incident when an international NATO drill has a succesion of # ups so bad it leads to troops aiming weapons at civillians.

While the US troops are obviously at fault for not realising they had the wrong building, investigations need to be done to check if they were given incorrect info from the Italian led NATO drill that led to them sweeping the building.

I don't understand how it's possible for CENTCOM or similar not to realise the troops were in the wrong place, do they not give co-ordinates or ask for permission before entering a building? How was it not picked up by radio teams that they were in the wrong area (basic wave analysis).

originally posted by: 2Faced
Someone said “oil”. The rest is self explanatory.

1. Invade
2. Spread democracy
3. Secure oil

Tried to think up something witty but could not top this.

a reply to: gortex

Seems Bulgaria needed some freedom.

Oil is Oil said the general...

a reply to: bastion

You're blowing this way out of proportion.

It's an exercise.

Mistakes are expected to mitigate said mistakes when it's actually go time.

Take it easy Francis.

a reply to: bastion

While the US troops are obviously at fault for not realising they had the wrong building, investigations need to be done to check if they were given incorrect info from the Italian led NATO drill that led to them sweeping the building.

Sadly we can't blame the Italians on this one , the excercise was US led using troops from the 173rd airborne brigade who are based in Italy.

a reply to: gortex

Ah true, had conpletely misread the italian based as Italian led even though it clearly states US led in the lead. Cheers for the correction, would have mised it otherwise. Need more coffee.

Hopefully there wasn't much resistance and the test op was successful.

Only thing more embarrassing than raiding a sunflower factory would be doing so and losing.

I'd double check the perimeter and the building. Never trust sunflowers. They are into something.

Bring the owner to our facility for interrogation. This could be serious.

a reply to: jjkenobi

Only thing more embarrassing than raiding a sunflower factory would be doing so and losing.

Thought the guard cat was going to offer some resistance but it seems discretion is the better part of valour and he ran away.

Bad Kitty.

originally posted by: gortex
a reply to: jjkenobi

Only thing more embarrassing than raiding a sunflower factory would be doing so and losing.

Thought the guard cat was going to offer some resistance but it seems discretion is the better part of valour and he ran away.

Bad Kitty.

That snitch. Freakin cat is wired.

The plant is directly next to the airfield that was part of the exercise. It was close enough that someone mistook its buildings as part of the buildings used for the exercise. It was a simple mistake, no one was hurt and nothing was damaged.

I can imagine the Benny Hill music playing in the factory while they were invaded.

a reply to: gortex

What i don't understand is once they were inside and saw people working and doing their jobs, how did they not figure out they messed up?