Is the American Army Stupid?

Question

read this link, i could not believe it when i read this.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-1517327,00.html

Answer 1

That's nothing new. I was in Gulf War I and we had to have Union Jacks, the bigger the better, flying off our vehicles to identify ourselves as British. Even that didn't stop a USAF A-10 taking out a load of our infantry lads who were flying flags off their APCs. We hated working with the Yanks. Too trigger-happy.

Answer 2

Ok, so i read the article. It said that the majority of the incidents occur at night, but it has happened in the day as well. I would ask you, have you been in a combat situation? Have you ever been mortared, or hit by an ied? Have you every been in iraq, in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night, when you can barely see 10 feet in front of you? I'm going to assume that the answer would be no. Well, i have, and i have served with the british, and actually have heard of only a few instances of this actually occurring, but it does happen in combat, sad but true. So, do not for a minute assume that you have any credible reason to ask this question. And to the rest who think all soldiers are stupid, i would remind you that if you only read the newspapers and watch CNN, MSNBC or FOX news, you are not getting the whole truth, they twist the news anyway they want. I guess my masters degree from the university of pennsylvania is null and void since i joined the army. Not all soldiers have college, but how dare you call volunteer service members of this country stupid, any of you.

Answer 3

I would say 'Stupid' in a very unfortunate term to use.
'Very nervous' would be better. I do think however that there have been far too many incidents of this nature. There has been many other incidents such of a British jet fighter being shot down at the beginning of the war.
If I remember rightly the only British forces killed in the first Gulf War were all killed by US forces.

When in war it sometimes is very difficult to decide whether to shoot or not. Just think if you leave it too late it could be you being shot at.

Answer 4

No they are not my husband is in the army and he just joint at the age of 25 and is very smart. And Kerry was very wrong for what he said. If you just sit down and talk to some of the solider you will see that they are some of the smartest people. And if you don't support the troops then why live here they fight for you to be safe and some die for that. And they have family's that will have to go through alot just so that you can be safe.

Answer 5

Wow. So much for the thin veneer of "tolerance" and "respect for others' views and opinions" that the liberal left drapes itself in. From what I see here, most liberals and lefties are not really so different from the people they accuse of "intolerance", "racism" and "imperialism". The only difference that I can see is their choice of targets.

As for America's Army being "stupid", we read these little internet diatribes against us with something akin to mild amusement. You would-be "agrarian reformers" of the left have no idea what you're talking about, and spew forth violent threats and dire excoriation whenever you meet disagreement. Whatever happened to civilized disagreement?

I wholly agree with the posters who stated that if you've never served in a combat zone, you need to just STFU. Your opinion on the subject of combat is absolutely worthless.

Answer 6

If you haven't spent time in a combat zone that you need to shut your pie hole because you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Living in a state of constant high alert and wondering if today is the day you die will make anyone jumpy. When things go down on the battlefield you have a split second to react or you could be dead. I would rather be judged by 12 than carried by six.

US Army vet 87-95 Desert Storm Vet

Answer 7

I have a few questions as well.

Is the British Army Stupid?

If the American Army is stupid for blue on blue against the British, what does it make the British when they blue on blue themselves?

War is chaotic. Friendly fire will happen, regardless of country of origin. If you've never served and never been in combat I guess that would explain the ignorance I'm seeing in many of the above answers.

Both British and American forces do their best to mitigate any kind of blue on blue action. The simple truth is that in the nightmare of combat operations, you sometimes only have a fraction of a second to make a decision that will seriously affect the outcome of a mission and other peoples lives.

Hindsight is always 20/20.

Answer 8

based off of a two year old article where US troops engaged a car speeding towards a check point and did not stop?

It would be ignorance NOT to fire.

US troops engaged Brits in Desert Storm over "killox" issues. If you're inside an authorized "killbox" used by US aircraft, it doesn't matter. Game over.

Answer 9

The American forces are under constant attack as opposed to UK forces that occupy largely quiet sectors. So if they are a little trigger happy it is somewhat understandable.

Answer 10

As an American who supports our troops I must be careful what
i write not to insult..If you remember John Kerry's remarks on education there was actually much truth in it but as you probably know we Americans find truth hard to accept...what I could say is this ...look at the average age of an American soldier in Iraq and you can tell their education level.. I am not shocked by what I read!
In fact I am of the opinion that A great many could not point to Great Britain on a world map !

Answer 11

No they are not stupid,
my late uncle was a commando in world war 2 and he told me that in world war 2 that some American soldiers he served with where a bit trigger happy and they would shoot anything and everything.
But having said that all armies under fire can make mistakes and the British army is no exception they have shot at their own soldiers too,The Falklands war springs to mind.