Posted on 01/03/2003 4:22:58 AM PST by The Duke
Lately, if you've been paying close attention, you will have noticed minor news coverage of two US pilots, involved in a friendly fire incident in Afghanistan, which resulted in the unfortunate deaths of four Canadian soldiers, being hung out to dry by their/our own US government.
U.S. Air Force Pilots ChargedSo I've got a couple of questions.Criminal charges have been brought against two U.S. Air Force pilots responsible for the friendly fire bombing of Canadians in Afghanistan in April 2002.
Four Canadian soldiers were killed and eight others injured when a U.S. F-16 fighter jet dropped a bomb on the Canadian soldiers who were on a nighttime ground training exercise near Kandahar.
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First, where the heck is the outrage? I mean, for God's sake, does anyone honestly believe that these two US pilots intentionally bombed their comrades-in-arms on the ground? The guys who were keeping the Mad Mullahs with leftover sidewider missiles from shooting one up their own tailpipes? If the US were not the laughing stock of the sane world before then we certainly are now!
Second, exactly what must be going through the minds of our pilots who have been deployed to the Persian Gulf today? Should we have new seats installed on all our military aircraft in which designated lawyers must sit in order to pre-approve all bombs dropped?
Third, why have our leaders allowed one minute of this farce to take place? Do we need new leaders?
This issue desperately needs to be discussed on all the talk radio programs and, if we have one grain of gratitude for the risks that our military people are taking right now today, and for the sactifices they are making, then we'll all call our representatives and make our voices heard in support of two highly trained, professional Air Force warriors, who are being railroaded to satisfy the sanctimonious, character-less, hand-wringing ninnies living to our north!
I say FREE THE PILOTS AND PROSECUTE THE GENERALS!
How many people did you kill doing that?
Dont recall any.
Exactly my point.
Doing stupid pranks in peacetime is a wee bit different from violating ROEs in a war zone.
Wrong, that was not combat, this was. When someone is shooting at you the rules change.
You mean the drugs that he VOLUNTARILY took?
Yeah, I'll gladly Monday-morning quarterback. I spent eight years in the USMC, and I don't think that people who are incontinent with ordnance should just get a pat on the head.
Agreed. But the vocal protests/threats of a backseater who cares about his freedom, career and life can do wonders in preventing a hotshot pilot from making a fatal mistake.
Indeed they do. The USAF issued them to aircrews ferrying fighter aircraft across the pond. This followed a night of sleep induced by the "stop" pills the USAF issued to the same crews.
They made a very serious, and a very deadly mistake. Yes, the AF maybe at fault for pushing them too far/wearing them out, but when all is said and done, when somebody in the military makes a mistake they are not immune to justice. Unfortunately, those above them who should share some of the blame won't be brought to justice.
D. COFFEE FLIGHT OVER TARNAK FARMS
COFFEE flight reported to ____ that they were witnessing surface-to-air fire (SAFIRE) off to the right side of their formation. COFFEE 51 requested permission from _____ to take a mark, which was approved. At this point, COFFEE 52 put his NVGs back on and turned off his external lights. COFFEE 52 then made a right hand turn away from his flight lead and began a descent. COFFEE 51 remained above ___ feet MSL and started to fly a wide right turn around the location of the reported SAFIRE. At 2122:30Z, both pilots activated their on-board recorders. At this time, COFFEE 51 and COFFEE 52 were about ___nautical miles away from each other with the reported SAFIRE located between them.
Fifteen seconds later, COFFEE 52 made a descending left turn, putting the SAFIRE site in the center of his in an attempt to mark the coordinates. While doing so, COFFEE 52 descended to _____ AGL and slowed to _____knots calibrated air speed (KCAS).
COFFEE 52 then turned away from the site and reported that he could see the source of the reported SAFIRE. At 2123:23Z, he requested permission from ___ to "lay down some 20 mike-mike," meaning to fire on the site with his 20mm cannon. ____ replied “Standby." Twenty-eight seconds later, the AWACS Mission Crew Commander (MCC) had relayed this request to the CAOC, call sign ___. COFFEE flight could not hear these transmissions. ____ informed ____ that COFFEE flight had seen SAFIRE near Kandahar and that COFFEE 52 had requested to employ his 20mm cannon. The Chief of Combat Operations (CCO), immediately told the ____ controller to deny the request. The CCO asked the DCO seated near him, "Are you hearing this?" At 2124:38Z, ____ called ____ requesting more information on the SAFIRE and instructed ____ to tell COFFEE flight to hold fire. The direction “…hold fire, need details on SAFIRE for ____," was relayed by _____ to COFFEE flight shortly thereafter. At this point, 1 minute and 22 seconds had elapsed since COFFEE 52's initial request for permission to employ his 20mm cannon
E. FINAL INCIDENT SEQUENCE
At Tarnak Farms Range, the _____ crew had fired two of their remaining three rounds but were having difficulty properly loading the last round. Corporal _____ completed loading the final round and Corporal _____ was preparing to fire the weapon. Sergeant _____, the soldier furthest to the south, was observing the tank stalk crew
The _____ gunners, Corporal Dyer and Private Smith, directed by Master Corporal _____, had fired all their ammunition and the gunner manning the _____, Corporal _____, was firing at a slow rate (3-4 round bursts with about a 10 second pause between bursts) because he was conserving his ammunition. He occasionally fired faster bursts to assist the _____ gunners in sighting the tank target as necessary. Sergeant Léger and Master Corporal _____ continued supervising the tank stalk team
At 2124:54Z, in immediate response to direction to hold fire and request for information on the SAFIRE, COFFEE 52 told _____"Okay I’ve got a, uh, I’ve got some men on a road and it looks like a piece of artillery firing at us. I am rolling in in self defense.” _____responded four seconds later, “_____ copies.” Immediately after, COFFEE 51 reminded COFFEE 52 over the UHF frequency, “Check master arm, laser arm.” At the same time, _____ relayed to _____ COFFEE 52’s declaration of self-defense. COFFEE 52 then called “bombs away” over the UHF radio frequency and released one 500 pound GBU-12 laser-guided bomb. Thirty-eight seconds after _____call concerning COFFEE flight’s declaration of self-defense, _____ told _____, “_____, _____, be advised Kandahar has friendlies, you are to get COFFEE 51 out of there as soon as possible.” This call was received by _____ during bomb impact and was immediately acknowledged.
As the bomb was released, Sergeant Léger began walking from the _____ team towards the machine gun crew. Private Green was kneeling. Sergeant _____ and Corporals _____ and _____ heard a whistling sound that Sergeant _____ immediately recognized as incoming fire. The GBU-12 impacted the ground approximately three feet to the left of the machine gun crew on the west lip of Wadi East. The main force of the explosion hit the south end of the line of ten soldiers. Sergeant Léger, Corporal Dyer, Private Green and Private Smith died immediately. Two minutes and 20 seconds had elapsed from COFFEE 52's request to employ his 20mm cannon until the GBU-12 impacted at Tarnak Farms
After the bomb detonated, COFFEE 52 called “shack” over the radio frequency, indicating a direct hit on the target. This call was not acknowledged. Nine seconds after the bomb impacted the ground, COFFEE 52 began a radio call to ____. _____ interrupted and relayed the CAOC's directions to COFFEE flight to "Disengage, friendlies Kandahar." COFFEE 52 acknowledged the order from _____ and said, “…disengaging south.” COFFEE flight then proceeded southwest on their original heading of 230 degrees to rendezvous with an assigned air refueling tanker.
Approximately five seconds after informing _____ that he was disengaging south, COFFEE 51 called, “Copy, uh, can you confirm that they were shooting at us?” _____ replied, “COFFEE 51, ______, you cleared self-defense [unintelligible] ___ wants you to work south. There may be friendlies Kandahar.”
After air refueling, COFFEE flight returned to their deployed location. The return flight lasted approximately____ . While en route to the air refueling tanker, there was considerable communication, both internally between the two pilots, and externally with _____, concerning the location and the nature of the reported SAFIRE. Upon arrival at their deployed location, the pilots were met planeside by the 332 AEG Commander, Colonel Nichols. He informed the two pilots of the friendly fire incident.
AWACS remained on station for another _____ after COFFEE flight departed the area. They then returned to their deployed location. The crew was met at the debrief by their squadron operations officer, Lieutenant Colonel _____, who gathered information from them regarding their involvement with the friendly fire incident.
As an active duty AF member, this inquiry is quite clear. The pilots were clearly ordered to "Stand By". This is the equivelent of a DIRECT ORDER.
Yes, the pilot called "Self-defence", but they had already been told that there may be friendlies in the area. That over rules the "Self-defence" and the Order of STAND BY holds.
These pilots ignored a direct order and broke the Rules of Engagement. They may get lucky and have the charges reduced at Article 32 or Court Martial, but the bottom line is that they broke the ROE and their AF flying days are over.
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