IF today a soldier gets killed by his own british troops..........??????

Question

doesn't that mean that they are all becoming deranged and need to come home now ?

ITs just been on the six oclock news. it happened today!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm not muslim by the way. sikh

Answer 1

It means nothing of the sort, they are not deranged. People get killed by friendly fire in all wars, it happens and it is a fact that we have to face, albeit a very sad affair. Mistakes are sometimes made by troops who wrongly identify a friendly vehicle, aircraft, or any other object, for that of the enemy, for one reason or another.

Answer 2

Actually in responce to the 1st answerer (cant be bothered to check his user id)

The British army has some of the best soldiers in the world and the british SAS is recognised as the best special forces operatives (above and beyond the seals and the marines for you yankees)

No i dont think all our troops are going deranged... they are under a lot of stress and pressure though... being in what can be called a cival war country without it officially being declared... if we pulled them out tomorrow, we'd cause absolute havok and another dictatorship would be in by christmas...

I'm by no means justifying the current situation... but the stress our troops must be under is obviously starting to take toll.

I think recognising these troops who are beginning to crack is far more vital than just sending them all home en masse.

and they other people are fight, friendly fire is a sad fact of warfare... its not like a video game where an enemy is quite clearly visibly distinguishable...
sometimes you see something and the instinct is to shoot or be shot...

Answer 3

Our boys are not deranged at all they are the best trained troops in the world .... Personally i would like to see how you would react in an intense situation with hostile enemy engagment around you .. accidents can happen and will happen they are human afterall and deal with horrific conditions and situations that civvies would crumble under deranged is some one walking into a kids school armen with a gun and taking out innocent victims sign up to the army it may make a man out of you

Answer 4

Friendly fire? I don't know where the word came from, all I know is that it ain't friendly when am on the receiving end.
I think the soldiers are not deranged as you described it. Different mentality when in theatre and on alert for 24hrs. Makes you be edgy psychologically. Reasoning and calculations are on a fraction of a second and accidents will happen.

Answer 5

It happens.

I remember a horrible stomach-turning time in Norhern Ireland in the rain and the cold and the grey, seven hours into a patrol and trying to hold it together in the last half hour or so before returning to barracks.

You're tired, you're cold and it's twilight, right? It has been steadily raining for four hours, you are soaked, the insides of your thighs are rubbed raw gainst cold soaked uniform material. Your fingers are numb, all you can think of is a hot shower and clean clothes which is getting nearer and nearer. But you know it is fatal to anticipate as you are still in potentially hostile country and YOU MUST CONCENTRATE.

Then you become aware of people in battledress like your own about two hundred yards away. This does not mean a thing - the IRA and INLA are known to kit themselves out in surplus British battledress. You drop to cover and count five of them, at least three of whom are rifle - armed. You know five men is not a standard number for a patrol. (The British army works in multiples of fours and eights). What sort of headwear have they got, helmets, or balaclavas? In this murk it's hard to see.

Then they go to ground too - you curse the hesitation but track them with your gunsight. Were they wearing standard British webbing? Hard to tell in this light. You know there are at least thirteen weapons being brought to bear on each other and the longer it goes on, the more likely it is somebody is going to start shooting. You also know from the pre-patrol briefing that no other British patrol is scheduled to be in this area at this time.

What do you do?

Nobody is shooting. If they were PIRA, it's likely they'd have fired a few bursts and started retreating by now. These guys are holding fire and watching you. Is there a patrol commander over there running the same sort of odds through his head that you are?

You call your batallion's name ("Second Royal Welch!") by way of identifying yourself. The call comes back: "First Argylls"

Then you stand up, as patrol commander, and one of the Jock soldiers down the lane does likewise. Scottish soldiers tend to wear loose shapeless bonnets, btw, and they had a fashion for wearing them at a seriously sloping angle, so it's hard from a distance to make out what the hell they're wearing. It turns out the Jocks in the next batallion area have decided to run a few extra patrols but they haven't told you about it. And we are both on the very fringe of our own patrol areas... the odd fifth man who foxed me for a moment is the Argylls' regimental chaplain, who should not be going out on patrols at all but is attaching himself as a supernumerary, to get a flavour of what the Jocks do every day. Totally against standing orders, but it happens.

This is where accidents happen: what if we'd taken each other for IRA? It's good discipline that holds fire - but sometimes it gets strained to the point where accidents happen.

Answer 6

Friendly fire is a sad fact of war. Confederate General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson during the American Civil War was mortally wounded by "friendly fire." It becomes news because the enemy is generally unable to inflict any sizeable casualties on the UK troops (or US for that matter.) This news reflects more on the general effectiveness of the UK troops in preventing casualties by enemy fire than any sort of morale or discipline problems.

Answer 7

"friendly fire" casualties are a sad fact of life in the military. They have bee occuring since the first cave dweller picked up a stick and clubbed his best friend in the dark by mistake and continue on to this very day. I see no way to prevent them from happening as long as there are wars.

Answer 8

You sound like a muslim wind up merchant.

Never mock the British soldier sunshine.

Answer 9

Its called war,this kind of thing happens in all conflicts(stress,anxiety,fear,confusion,depression) all occur
in normal life.imagine how much worse they are in
a warzone.it must be hell out in these places.

Answer 10

Most likely you will never hear about it. The British are not very forthcoming about their military screwups.