Canadian troops die under US friendly fire

[Avatar]

sounds familiar? What is it with the Americans and killing friendly or neutral forces?

They bomb the Chinese Embassy, knockout Albanian Tanks, blow up their own Marines and now kill Canadian troops.

Apparently the pilot who is a national guard (part-time) was under fire and thought the Canadians had fired upon him.
What is not clear is whether he was actually hit by enemy fire and then fired on Canadians nearby...
or
He saw Canadians firing at ground dummies in an excercise and panicked and fired at them.

[johnny]

have you been watching southpark again ?

[Thoran]

When you're zipping along at 500mph I imagine it's difficult to stop and ask someone if they're a bad guy. Based on the amount of ordinance dropped I think the collateral damage of precision bombing is fairly low... but as long as there's a human involved in pulling the trigger there's going to be mistakes.

I feel bad for the families... and for the poor pilot who has to live with the fact that his mistake (under fire or just from fear) has taken lives.

[Larry_OHF]

Avatar, please do not be so stereotypical.

The actions of one man under fire from an unknown source that returned the fire was to him saving his life and if his training had told him to return fire from a possible threat, then he obeyed orders.

Yet, that does not mean that I would have done it, just because I am an American.

[Dreamer128]

Originally posted by Thoran: When you're zipping along at 500mph I imagine it's difficult to stop and ask someone if they're a bad guy

Well you can't just pull the triger 'just in case'.

[ 04-18-2002, 11:49 AM: Message edited by: Dreamer128 ]

Originally posted by Avatar: sounds familiar? What is it with the Americans and killing friendly or neutral forces? They bomb the Chinese Embassy, knockout Albanian Tanks, blow up their own Marines and now kill Canadian troops. Apparently the pilot who is a national guard (part-time) was under fire and thought the Canadians had fired upon him. What is not clear is whether he was actually hit by enemy fire and then fired on Canadians nearby... or He saw Canadians firing at ground dummies in an excercise and panicked and fired at them.

A very crass and unkind comment in the wake of a terrible tradgedy.
Accidents happen every day, things go wrong. Live fire training exercises by definition are dangerous.

The heartfelt condolences and sympathy from the US armed Forces and most of the US populace goes out to our fellow warriors who were killed or wounded in this accident. The Canadian troops in the field who were comrades to the fallen have publicly stated their commitment to this cause and are still steadfast allies.

I see you decided to make a callous post about your political views rather than to express your sorrow at the loss of life of 4 very fine young men. Says a lot about your character.

Originally posted by Dreamer128: quote: Originally posted by Thoran: When you're zipping along at 500mph I imagine it's difficult to stop and ask someone if they're a bad guy

Well you can't just pull the triger 'just in case'.[/QUOTE]The pilot did NOT pull the trigger "just in case" There was abreak down in communications, the pilot did indeed seek permission to fire from his commanders on the ground and was given permission to fire. The evidence so far revealed shows that it was a mistake made on the ground and not by the pilot. The incident will be investigated but as I said before, LIVE fire training is inherently dangerous, it is something we do to prepare our selves for war, and a risk every armed forces member accepts.

Lets focus on the bravemen who died serving their country fighting a fight they believed in. The fact that it was a training exercise accident does not diminish their honor.

[Thoran]

Originally posted by Dreamer128: quote: Originally posted by Thoran: When you're zipping along at 500mph I imagine it's difficult to stop and ask someone if they're a bad guy

Well you can't just pull the triger 'just in case'.[/QUOTE]That's an easy statement to make when you're not the one who's being shot at. I've never been in that situation, so I would never presume to judge that Pilot for his actions... I simply feel sorrow for everyone in that situation.

[Ryanamur]

Well, what can I say? Though it's unmistakenly an accident, the death of 4 members of the 3 Princess Patricia's Light Infantry (and 8 more being injured by the bomb) is very troublesome. Don't get me wrong, their death is a tragic accident that shouldn't be made light of. However, friendly fire is a fact of life in the trenches. When will Americans learn to identify their target prior to dropping the bombs? It seems that you guys a trigger happy. I can't recal any civilized military that cause so many friendly deaths on the battlefield. I wonder when was the last time Israel killed one of their own soldier (FYI, the Israeli army is the best combat military in the world and it's the only military to win all it's wars in the later half of the 20th century).

Next time, could you please make sure you don't drop live bombs on live troops within a designated live-fire exercise area!

Oh and before you come and bash me for not knowing what the military life is all about, I should probably tell you that I'm a former Canadian Forces pilot who served for 9 1/2 years in as an officer and I'm a graduate of a Military university.

[ 04-18-2002, 02:04 PM: Message edited by: Ryanamur ]

[Larry_OHF]

It is good to know that not all people from foreign lands are deciding to place blame on us.

My supervisor is Canadian, and he said that the Canadians have just as much in the blame. It is not all one-sided like some of you would hope.

Lay off it and quit pointing fingers at one another.