Miasma: of war or carelessness?
"We should spray-paint a big circle around us, with an arrow that says 'Not here, asshole,'"...
Another A-10 hitting a Canadian position. Only this time, with lethal rather than just frightening effect.
I'm not rushing to judgement - accidents happen, people screw up. When you're a cashier at Loblaws, that means a customer walks away with too much change in his pocket. When you're a soldier, it often means someone who shouldn't dies.
There's going to be an investigation, and hopefully that investigation will get to the bottom of the incident. Let's not forget that sometimes the fault isn't wholly the pilot's, either. But from initial reports, this looks like at least one person's carelessness - strafing positions around armoured vehicles isn't a garden-variety mistake, unless the other guy has armoured vehicles too. The Taliban doesn't.
It's hard to imagine, however, how a pilot might have mistaken Canadian LAV-3 armoured vehicles for a cluster of insurgents, Major Abthorpe said.
"They're supposed to make visual contact," he said. "The LAVs were out on an exposed open slope, so what actually happened is hard to say. . . . Confusion, chaos, smoke on the battlefield, early morning mist, and everything like that all probably played a factor."
One last point: much as this is cause for concern, it shouldn't be used to justify a blanket condemnation of American air support. The guys on the ground still want CAS, and the truth of it is that the CF can't provide it for them:
"It hits us hard. But in a mission like this with the terrain as tough as it is, close air support is a huge factor. It gets their heads down so we can make our moves," Smith said.
...
"It's unfortunate the incident happened, but for a complex environment with an enemy that is that dug in, air support is required for this mission," said Sgt. Chad Garton of Task Force Kandahar's Bravo Company. Behind him, smoke billowed from more bombs aimed at insurgent positions.
"It's very three dimensional out there. You have different elements coming from different angles, but sometimes this does occur."
On a personal note: best of luck with your mission, and come home safe, Abby.
posted by Babbling Brooks at 1:45 p.m.
4 Comments:
My condemnation is based on personal experience and the knowledge that US air is often flown by cowboys with a "weapons free" mentality, regardless of the weapon control order.
Schmidt and Umbach were classic examples.
From a scientific stand-point US pilots are walking (or flying, in this case) time-bombs. When deploying on longer sorties, USAF jockies are given a drug called Dexedrine (dextroAMPHETAMINE) which is commonly prescribed to young people who suffer from Attention Deficit Disorder. It helps keep the pilots awake, maintain vigilance and stay focused. Side effects? It also makes them paranoid, quick to rush to judgment, jumpy and anxious.
Dave, I appreciate the fact that your perspective stems from personal experience. Having no similar experience to draw from myself, I can only use my own judgement and values, and look to those like you who have the experience I don't. What I find is that most of the men on the ground disagree with your prescription to shoot the American pilots down, and that it makes little sense to me either.
Our guys need the CAS, and the U.S. is providing it.
As far as Schmidt and Umbach being classic examples - well, classic examples of what? Of USAF pilots, or of the subgroup of "cowboys" as you describe them? I would agree that they are perfect examples of the worst of the USAF, in that they disregarded procedure and disobeyed the orders of their AWACS controllers. If they were classic examples of USAF pilots in general, we'd be talking about hundreds of fratricide incidents, not three.
I have concerns about this specific incident, and about fratricide working alongside the U.S. as well. But as we've discussed previously over at your blog, I disagree that the solution is to intentionally fire on your allies. That's a cure that's worse than the disease.
The longer I read you, the more I realize you and I won't agree on much. But part of the reason I started this blog was to enlist differing informed points of view on the CF and the issues surrounding it - so you're more than welcome to make your case to the readership here. I have no pretentions to being the final word here.
Our guys need the CAS, and the U.S. is providing it.
Not good enough.
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