Posted on 05/03/2002 9:45:47 AM PDT by TADSLOS
EDMONTON (CP) - The most badly wounded survivor of the bombing of Canadian troops in Afghanistan says he can't understand how an American pilot mistook them for the enemy. Sgt. Lorne Ford said his soldiers were well marked as "friendlies" during an April 18 live-fire training exercise near Kandahar.
He said members of Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry wore infrared tape on their helmets and left shoulders and some wore flashing infrared strobe lights on their helmets.
"To be fired upon and to have a bomb dropped on us when we were marked as "friendlies" . . . is something I don't understand," he said Thursday from a wheelchair at an Edmonton hospital where he is recovering from serious leg and eye injuries.
"We had the proper markings on our equipment."
Speaking above the persistent beeping of his intravenous and the cries of infants, the veteran paratrooper said he is angry about the needless deaths of four of his comrades and anxious to learn what happened.
But he wasn't sure if he blamed the pilot.
"I think blame is too harsh a word," he said. "I don't know if I blame him. I am pretty sure he feels pretty bad about what happened.
"However, I do think it was a mistake. Ultimately somebody does take responsibility. Who that is is not my decision."
Two military boards of inquiry - one Canadian and one American - are investigating.
Ford, a 33-year-old from Brampton, Ont., said he was directing a seven-member section that was firing anti-tank rockets and light and medium machine guns on a target range when the attack occurred.
"I heard the scream of a jet," he said. "I looked up into the sky. No more than three seconds later, I heard the screaming of a bomb itself.
"At that instant, I knew a bomb had been dropped on us and before I could get one sentence out of my mouth, the bomb impacted on the ground."
Ford said he had no idea where the bomb hit in relation to him and his soldiers or how close it was.
"The heat, the light, the force just knocking me back, was incredible."
The next thing he knew he was lying on his right side in the dark.
"I put my left hand toward my leg . . . It was bloody and I knew I needed help fairly quickly."
He said he called out that he was hit and waved his arms to signal his location, but the soldiers took cover until they were certain the jet wasn't returning for a second bombing run.
After a few minutes, they began searching for casualties and soon came to his aid, cutting off his combat pants and applying a tournaquet to his badly injured left leg.
Ford said he just concentrated on breathing and staying alive. He couldn't feel anything in his damaged right eye, but through the shock and adrenalin he could feel a dull pain in his leg.
He was evacuated by helicopter to a field hospital in Kandahar and then taken by plane to a U.S. military hospital in Germany where doctors worked to save his leg.
His Canadian doctor, Maj. Ron Brisebois, said Ford has lost vision in his eye and may not fully recover from his leg injury.
"I don't think he will ever have complete or full recovery of that leg," he said. "He could ambulate or walk on it without assistance eventually."
But Ford remained hopeful that he will return to the infantry or at least to some other job in the military until his contract is up.
"My intent is to go back to my job," he said as his friends and family looked on. "To what extent I can do that I am not positive."
He said he hopes to be walking in six months. He has already used a walker, but cannot put any weight on his injured leg.
Ford, wearing a black patch over his right eye, envied his fellow injured soldiers, three of whom are returning to Afghanistan.
Winnipeggers Cpl. Brian Decaire, 25 and Cpl. Brett Perry, 26, and Master Cpl. Curtis Hollister, 29, of Cupar, Sask., will rejoin the 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry in Kandahar.
The three are to fly out Monday. The seven soldiers who escorted home the bodies of the dead soldiers are to return Friday.
Ford, a former member of the Canadian Airborne Regiment that was disbanded following its disgraceful tour in Somalia, said he yearned to go with them.
"That would be my ultimate wish right now if I could get my leg back to a functional level - even with only one eye," he said. "If I could go back next week, I would in a heartbeat.
"I am a soldier. A soldier's job is on the battlefield."
Eight soldiers in total were wounded in the April 18 bombing near Kandahar.
Four died, including Richard Green, 21, of Mill Cove, N.S., who was under Ford's direct command. The sergeant had praise for him and the three others who died: Sgt. Marc Leger, 29, of Lancaster, Ont.; Cpl. Ainsworth Dyer, 25, of Toronto; and Pte. Nathan Smith, 27, of Tatamagouche, N.S.
Ford said the one positive that has come out of the tragedy is that Canadians now better realize the dangerous work their soldiers do and have been doing on peacekeeping missions since the Korean War.
He hoped it would erase the taint of Somalia where soldiers beat a Somali teen to death.
"Things happened that should not have happened in the past," he said. "Hopefully this turns a different eye on how the public and the media look at what we do in the future."
HINT: Don't wear/use strobes in the middle of a live fire. They look just like small arms fire from a pilot's perspective (not excusing the pilot's actions here).
Ford said the one positive that has come out of the tragedy is that Canadians now better realize the dangerous work their soldiers do and have been doing on peacekeeping missions since the Korean War.
PSST...Hey Canada, get a clue. This isn't a peacekeeping mission, it's war, and, oh by the way, how about the approval for those Bronze Star Medals we want to give your snipers. That was damned fine shootin'. Hell, if you are too ashamed of them, maybe you can lend 'em to us for the rest ot the war...
It's enough to make me want to spit.
There are a lot of factors involved in this I'm sure, but the bottom line is the pilot screwed up, used poor judgement and let his concern over perceived ground fire override the safety of friendly troops on the ground.
I've trained with Canadian soldiers. They're tough as nails and highly skilled. My heart goes out to you.
And reflective tape only reflects light thrown upon it, so unless an illumination flare was in the air at the time, it would only reflect the tracer light.
Also, anyone that has ever seen night fire knows when tracer fire hits a hill or other object it recochets skyward, which could very well have been diverted directly into the pilots general vicinity.
A sad series of very unfortunate events and a real tragedy for all concerned.
The live fire at targets and the flickering of the helmet mounted strobes would have looked like a firefight with some fire directed at the aircraft. Not a situation where a pilot would have been very hesitant in returning fire. I would'nt have wasted any time. I feel sorry for the pilot, he/she should not be punished anymore than the knowledge of the error will bring by guilt.
It's similar to that sub captain who sufaced under that Japanese fishing boat. A one in ten million chance. Or maybe 50 million.
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