Friendly Fire

[Rose Siding]

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...Believing the warplane was in danger, and without checking for friendly ground forces, the crew of an Awacs reconnaissance plane gave the pilot a green light.

The explosion threw Lieutenant Fernandez out of his cot. Kicking off his sleeping bag, he realized his feet had been torn apart. He grabbed his Kevlar vest, helmet and gun, then tried to pull Sergeant Oaks, who had been sleeping beside him, away from the burning Humvee, which was loaded with ammunition and was leaking gasoline.

They escaped before the Humvee exploded, but it took more than an hour for an evacuation helicopter to arrive, according to the report. Though Sergeant Oaks, 20, was conscious as he was flown away, witnesses said he died within hours. Two other soldiers, Sgt. Todd J. Robbins, 33, from Pentwater, Mich., and Sgt. First Class Randall S. Rehn, 36, of Longmont, Colo., were also killed, probably instantly.

At daybreak, soldiers discovered pages from a Bible scattered around the remains of the Humvee. Sergeant Oaks's family believe they came from his Bible, which he was trying to read cover to cover.

"It was the most devastation I had seen in the war," said William E. Thompson, an Army reservist who photographed the scene.

http://www.wilmingtonstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050415/ZNYT02/504150351/1002/BUSINESS

Although the investigating Brig Gen concluded that the fighter pilot "had rushed his decision to bomb", he also found that "no one had acted...negligently or recklessly".