Heartbreaking friendly fire video from Iraq

[9thkvius]

First, I want to apologize for my inept HTML skills, as I could not for the life of me make the embedding thing work properly, and so you are going to have to follow the links to see it.

As a former infantryman myself (11Mike) I watched this video and cried.

Here is the shorter, edited video

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/10/14/friendlyfirevideo/index.html?source=video&aim=/news/feature

And here is the longer, unedited video.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/10/14/friendlyfirevideo/index.html?source=video&aim=/news/feature

After composing myself, I read the story that accompanied the video. It's both saddening and infuriating.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/10/14/friendly_fire/index.html

[9thkvius]

1. Again, I apologize for my inability to fix the imbedding

I just tried yet again and I still can't get it to work.

[magdalena]

3. No worries about the embedding.

I will admit I know nothing about about the complexities of combat, but this is outrageous. Two soldiers died in this video from what is unanimously considered friendly fire. The person in charge believes it is friendly fire as well, but effortlessly covers it up. How can this man (who was almost injured/killed himself) deny his fallen boys justice? What is going on over there? This is so heartbreaking and disgusting. Our troops need to be brought home NOW!

[9thkvius]

4. The platoon sergeant was "told" what to believe

That is clear both from the video and from the accompanying article. Whoever he talked to (the company commander, apparently, though I am not sure) told him that the incident was caused by a mortar round, and either explicitly or implicitly ordered him to make sure that no one tried to undermine that story. So the platoon sergeant was forced to push the mortar round story, even though most of the guys in his platoon didn't buy it, and he himself clearly didn't buy it. Although I don't condone what he did, I sympathize with him. He is between a rock and a hard place, and I hate it for him. That is one of the fucked-up things about the military. If your superior officer tells you that the sky is NOT blue, but green, you essentially have to say "yes sir, and a lovely shade of green it is". This is why an Inspector General is so important, because frequently those in the ranks have no other recourse when an officer is out of line.

[magdalena]

5. You're right. I just caught that after reading the article.

I only watched the short video at first and missed him getting that order. I do stand by my previous post, but at least I now understand where that sergeant was coming from.

[alphafemale]

2. Kicking to watch later.

Got to go to work.