Posted on 03/30/2003 6:05:42 PM PST by areafiftyone
British soldiers injured when an American "tankbuster" aircraft attacked their convoy, killing one of their comrades, hit out angrily at the "cowboy" pilot today.
Troops wounded in Friday's attack accused the A-10 Thunderbolt pilot of "incompetence and negligence" while others privately called for a manslaughter prosecution.
The comments came as America's most senior military official vowed to make it his quest to stop future "friendly fire" tragedies.
General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, apologised for the deadly error by the A-10 in southern Iraq.
He told BBC1's Breakfast With Frost: "It's the absolute saddest tragedy that any of us can experience.
"I don't think we have to live with situations like that, and one of my jobs has to be to ensure that we get the resources and the technical means to ensure that in the future this never, never happens again."
But the crews of the two British forward reconnaissance Scimitars attacked by the A-10 could not contain their anger.
Lance Corporal of Horse Steven Gerrard, speaking from his bed on the RFA Argus in the Gulf, said: "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."
LCoH Gerrard, the commander of the leading vehicle, described to Patrick Barkham of The Times how the deadly A-10 attack began. The pilot made two swoops.
"I will never forget that noise as long as I live. It is a noise I never want to hear again," he said.
"There was no gap between the bullets. I heard it and I froze. The next thing I knew the turret was erupting with white light everywhere, heat and smoke."
He added: "I'll never forget that A-10. He was about 50 metres off the ground. He circled, because he can turn on a 10-pence.
"He came back around. He was no more than 1,000 metres away when he started his attack run. He was about 500 metres away when he started firing."
There was a Union Jack on the back of one of the engineers' vehicles.
"It's about 18 inches wide by about 12 inches. 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."
Packed with hundreds of rounds of ammunition, as well as grenades, rifle rounds and flammable diesel fuel tanks, the front two Scimitars exploded into flames.
One of their comrades, Lance Corporal of Horse, Matty Hull, 25, was killed.
LCoH Gerrard also criticised the A-10 for shooting when there were civilians close by.
He said: "There was a boy of about 12 years old. He was no more than 20 metres away when the Yank opened up.
"He had absolutely no regard for human life. I believe he was a cowboy. 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."
Trooper Chris Finney, 18, added: "All the wagons have markings to say they are Coalition. I don't know why he shot a second time, he was that close.
"To be honest, I think they are just ignorant. I don't know if they haven't been trained or are just trigger happy."
Another of the injured, Lieutenant Alex MacEwen, 25, added: "A mistake has happened but too many things suggest it was down to pure incompetence and negligence."
Trooper Joe Woodgate, 19, the driver of the Scimitar in which gunner LCoH Hull was killed, walked away with holes in his bullet-proof vest and torn clothes.
He told The Guardian: "I don't suppose they have learned much from the first war. I can tell what an American tank looks like from every direction.
"How come somebody who is a top-notch Thunderbolt pilot can't tell what a British tank looks like?"
The Guardian reporter said some soldiers were also calling for the pilot to be prosecuted for manslaughter.
"I had a lot of time for Matty," said Trooper Woodgate.
"I respected him a lot and thought he was an awesome bloke. He was one of the nicest people I have ever met."
So far five British servicemen have been killed by friendly fire and four in combat with Iraqi forces.
On March 23 a Tornado aircraft was shot down by a US Patriot missile battery near the Kuwaiti border.
Another two British soldiers were killed when their Challenger 2 Main Battle tank was engaged by another British tank west of Basra.
If Brit tank crews are able to mistake their own main battle tank for that of the enemy, I guess I can give the benefit of the doubt to a Warthog pilot.
I don't blame these soldiers for saying what they said, considering what they went through. I'd sure as well curse any pilot shot at me. However, these things should not be reported. Wartime censorship for morale purposes must be put into place. If these guys want to vent, they can do it when they write their memoirs 30 years from now. People don't need to be seeing this in the news at this moment.
They would be the first to be up and whining if they didn't get the support of the A-10s.
It is too damned bad that this happened, but the whining isn't going to bring anyone back.
I've been very critical of the F-16 pilots in Afghanistan, but this is a bit much. When you're driving a car, can you tell the license plate on a car 1/2 mile away? And it isn't as though it is just the A-10s who have made this mistake - the Brits shot their own people recently.
I can understand this guy's anger - I would feel exactly the same under the circumstances. But he ought to keep his comments inside the military, where they can be evaluated for logic before release.
You are a foolish armchair soldier, yes? Do you or anyone else know the conditions of the episode besides this hysterical rant from an officer who should know better than to do such?
However, somebody screwed up here, whether it was the pilot, air or ground control.
I'd like to hear the pilot's side of it.
Nothing in the Iraqi arsenal resembles the British equipment from the equivalent of two hundred meters and all coalition vehicles are clearly identified to prevent this occurance.
The first pass was bad, the second is outrageous.
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