The Sun newspaper has acquired and released a copy of the cockpit video of the 'friendly fire' incident I wrote about yesterday. From what I saw and listened to just adds to the concern.
It appears that the American pilots had no real idea where they were, and even though their controllers told them there were 'friendlies' in the vicinity, they still mistook the orange recognition flashes on the vehicles as rocket launchers. They also seemed to think that Scimitar armoured vehicles looked like flat-bed trucks.
What I also heard was the shock and grief from the pilots when they realised what they had done. Sobbing could clearly be heard.
I know that in the heat of battle, things can get very confused and accidents will always happen - it is, after all, part of being human, but that being said, it was daylight and visibility was reasonable, - and at the end of the day, taking time to check once more could have meant the Corporal Matty Hull might still be alive today.
Time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted, and in this case, can save lives
It appears that the American pilots had no real idea where they were, and even though their controllers told them there were 'friendlies' in the vicinity, they still mistook the orange recognition flashes on the vehicles as rocket launchers. They also seemed to think that Scimitar armoured vehicles looked like flat-bed trucks.
What I also heard was the shock and grief from the pilots when they realised what they had done. Sobbing could clearly be heard.
I know that in the heat of battle, things can get very confused and accidents will always happen - it is, after all, part of being human, but that being said, it was daylight and visibility was reasonable, - and at the end of the day, taking time to check once more could have meant the Corporal Matty Hull might still be alive today.
Time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted, and in this case, can save lives
1 comment:
I think we would all be shocked at how many of our troops are killed by "friendly fire."
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