Military stupidity

[ralphwiggum 6]

I saw an artical on CNN(no....not Canabis News Network), and thought that some actions were plain stupid and resulted in tragic results. Here's one example.

http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/02/25/soldier.killed.ap/index.html

Deputy's killing of soldier called 'tragic mistake'

February 25, 2002 Posted: 11:10 AM EST (1610 GMT)

RALEIGH, North Carolina (AP) -- The killing of one Army Special Forces soldier and the wounding of a second by a sheriff's deputy during an off-base training exercise resulted from "a tragic mistake," the county's chief deputy said Monday.

The soldiers, wearing civilian clothes and riding in a pickup truck outside the boundary of Fort Bragg, were shot when they tried to disarm the deputy, thinking he was taking part in their exercise Saturday, officials said.

The soldiers were participating in a role-playing exercise that is part of the Army's Special Forces Qualification Course.

Moore County Deputy Randall Butler "did exactly what he was supposed to do," said Chief Deputy Lane Carter. "He thought he was in fear for his life from the time the incident started."

Carter said he didn't expect Butler would be charged. District Attorney Garland Yates planned to meet with State Bureau of Investigation agents Monday in Carthage, Carter said.

A civilian was driving the pickup when Butler pulled them over on a rural road outside Robbins, Carter said.

He said Butler had seen the truck twice during a 30-minute period and felt the occupants were acting suspiciously, since one of the men was in the open back of the vehicle in spite of the weather.

"It was 40 degrees and the wind was blowing and the one in the back was crouched down and it just looked strange," he said.

Butler saw a duffel bag with a weapon and one of the men in the cab tried to hide it, Carter said. The deputy ordered both people out of the truck cab and threw the bag on the ground. One soldier tried to assault him and Butler sprayed him with pepper spray, he said.

The second soldier came out of the back of the truck and tried to grab the weapon in the bag and Butler shot and wounded him, Carter said. The first soldier came at him again and was fatally shot.

The soldiers were participating in a reconnaissance mission in which they were to locate a target to be used in a mission, said Maj. Gary Kolb, spokesman for the Special Operations Command, which includes the Special Forces. He said the weapon in the bag was a disassembled M-4 carbine.

The training exercise, known as "Robin Sage," is the 19-day final exam of the Special Forces Qualification Course. The exercise has been conducted in central North Carolina since the mid-1950s without incident, the Army said.

Carter said county officials knew an exercise was going on and that it included a traffic stop last week in neighboring Randolph County.

Civilians and local authorities are often asked to assist in the training exercises, Kolb said. The Moore County sheriff's office was told a training exercise was under way, but the Army did not coordinate specifically with the sheriff's office and Butler probably was unaware of it, he said.

"In this instance, they were not informed about this, because the scenario itself was not intended to draw attention of the local authorities," Kolb said.

Kolb said the soldiers' identities would not be released until relatives were notified. The wounded soldier was in serious condition at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital in Pinehurst

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So it seems like there were misunderstandings, especially on trainee's side. Deputy respondede accordingly, with tragic result. My condolences to the soldier who lost his life.

[Ex-RoNiN 0]

These particular Spec Ops are Green Berets.

I wonder who the idiot is that did not tell the Sheriff's Department to leave them alone

[Wobble 1]

Thats what I was wondering.

[ralphwiggum 6]

how the heck are you supposed to know whether some civilians are Spec Op trainee or some Tim McVeigh-like lunatic?

[Wobble 1]

well the article said that MOST people including civilians knew about the training missions.. just apparently this sherrif was never told..

it really makes no sense.

[ralphwiggum 6]

well, it says most ppl, not all

i.e. how the heck can you distinguish civilian and military personnel in civilian clothing? maybe you should stop eating glue with me.

[foxer 0]

The army and the higher ups at the police station is to blame,I don't know about you ,but if I was that cop,I would have shot too.

[Longinius 1]

Well,this is what happens when there is bad communication. A friend of mine was a part of a similar accident when he did his service, but no one got shot.

He and his squad had been sent to a field storage building on an exercise. Him being the squads HMG gunner he took post on the only road leading to the building together with one other guy. After a while a police car pulls up. The guys thought they were a part of the exercise and thus everything was gonna get done by the numbers and then some. Two cops step out and start walking up the road. Halfway to the two guys position they yell for the police officers to stop and ID themselves. "Huh? Who's there?" is the response from the baffled cops. "Good acting..." my friend thinks. He yells back that its the Swedish army and thats all they need to know. The cops didnt seem to impressed as they walk on up the road. My friend yells two more times for them to halt, the cops keep on coming. So he opens up with his HMG, with blanks. He fires an entire belt from the time they start running to the time they duck behind their car. Then the officer in charge comes running down from the storage and gets to try and sort everything out.

The deal was that some locals had thought someone was breaking in to the storage and called the cops. The cops had no idea there was an exercise and my friend thought the cops were a part of said exercise. I reccon someone was lucky that the cops never returned fire.

[Longinius 1]

"The army and the higher ups at the police station is to blame,I don't know about you ,but if I was that cop,I would have shot too."

I don't know if the cops are to blaim at all. I mean, they had not been contacted about this particular exercise as far as I understand it. Everyone in the area knew there were exercises now and again but there is no way the cops could know those guys were soldiers.

[Oligo 1]

This incident reminds me of the training the spetsnaz underwent during Soviet Union times. They dressed the soldiers as convicts and dropped them off in the middle of the city with orders to return to barracks. Then they told the public and the police that dangerous convicts had escaped. If the cops shot the spetsnaz soldiers, well, they were not good enough for spetsnaz. And that was that.