"Frendly Fire"

Can anyone tell if they have heard of any other incidents of the so called �friendly fire �that the Americans were NOT involved in?

Another thing how come they call it �friendly Fire� when it�s not being very friendly to try and Kill some one who�s on the same side as you?

They've gone to calling it blue-on-blue now. Which just refers to the colours used in training (blue are the good guys, red are the bad guys)

I did hear about a Challenger-2 tank blowing another challenger-2 tank up. That was the UK's fault. As far as I'm aware there have been no UK->US friendly fire incidents... but then the numbers involved mean that US->UK are about 16 times as likely...

"fratricide" (the killing of one's brother). one of Murphy's Laws of Combat... Friendly fire....isn't.

Others:

Tracers work BOTH ways.
Radar tends to fail when you need it most (i.e. during rainstorms, sandstorms, at night, etc.)

Don't know if many of you have seen how pissed of the British troops are at the Americans after the latest incident when a A-10 made 2 runs at a clearly marked British convoy, killing one and injuring three.

"One of the survivors criticised the US pilot for showing "no regard for human life" and accused him of being "a cowboy" who had "gone out on a jolly".

Nursing shrapnel wounds and burns, the three injured soldiers, Lieutenant Alex MacEwen, 25, Lance Corporal of Horse Steven Gerrard, 33, and Trooper Chris Finney, 18, spoke of their bewilderment and anger.

"They said the US pilot apparently failed to recognise that their tanks were a British make, with special coalition identification aids and even a large Union flag on another machine in the five-vehicle convoy."
Lance Corporal Gerrard said:

"All this kit has been provided by the Americans. They've said if you put this kit on you won't get shot. "

"You've got an A-10 with advanced technology and he can't use a thermal sight to identify whether a tank is a friend or foe. It's ridiculous.
Combat is what I've been trained for. I can command my vehicle. I can keep it from being attacked.
"What I have not been trained to do is look over my shoulder to see whether an American is shooting at me."

"For him to fire his weapons I believe he had to look through his magnified optics. How he could not see that Union Jack I don't know."

"He [the pilot] had absolutely no regard for human life. I believe he was a cowboy. He'd just gone out on a jolly."

He added: "I'm curious about what's going to happen to the pilot.

"He's killed one of my friends and he's killed him on the second run."
news.bbc.co.uk...

I've seen many other equally vitriolic statements from the Troops in other papers and news sources.

They are not happy.

The pilot probably didn't even know what a Union Jack was...

I think the main concern with the A-10 blue on blue is the fact that all these planes (the A-10's ) are Air National Guard units. In my opinion it could be a lack of intensive training which full time units are subjected to, which could have led to this ( meaning a possible lack of professionalism on behalf of the A-10 pilot ).

I believe A-10's were involved with a few blue on blue contacts in the first Gulf War.

[Edited on 31-3-2003 by mad scientist]

Yep, the biggest UK casualties in GW1 were from A10's hitting a couple of tanks.

A U.S. warplane bombed U.S. special forces and Kurdish civilians in a convoy on Sunday, killing at least 10 to 12 of them in a "friendly fire" incident in northern Iraq, said a BBC correspondent who witnessed the event.

The reporter, the BBC's World Affairs Editor John Simpson, told the television: "I have counted 10 to 12 bodies...Americans dead."

"This is just a scene from hell here. There are vehicles on fire, bodies lying around, and there are bits of bodies around me...

"They hit their own people... they've killed a lot of ordinary characters, I'm just looking at the bodies now and it's not a very pretty sight," Simpson, injured in the incident, told BBC television in the report from northern Iraq monitored in London.

He said a senior Kurdish political figure was believed to be among the wounded. He said a U.S. plane dropped the bomb 10 to 12 feet from where he was standing.

this is getting wayyy out of hand.

The BBC: A convoy of Russian embassy diplomats is reported to have come under fire as they were evacuating from Baghdad and many are thought to have been injured.

A spokesman for Coalition Central Command says there were no coalition troops operating in that area. I can only hope this is not another incident of friendly fire.

i heard that another 3 us troops were hit by friendly fire

Originally posted by deepwaters
The BBC: A convoy of Russian embassy diplomats is reported to have come under fire as they were evacuating from Baghdad and many are thought to have been injured.

A spokesman for Coalition Central Command says there were no coalition troops operating in that area. I can only hope this is not another incident of friendly fire.

5 are injured, its the american specops work

(from a news report)

A British helicopter pilot who came under fire from American troops landed yards from them, leapt out and exchanged punches with a U.S marine. The Chinook pilot shouted at him "when was the last time you saw a F---ing Iraqi in a helicopter?"
They had to be pulled apart.

British military spokesman Group Captain Al lockwood said " I'm afraid it would be an RAF kind of thing to do. These guys are not known for tolerating fools gladly"

I think that's just a small part of the feeling amoungst the British troops. More of them have died from 'friendly fire' than in combat so far and some see the Americans as trigger happy cowboys, just shooting for kicks.