Why does the American Miltary kill so many of their own and allies with friendly fire?

Question

Something like 14% of American servicemen killed in the Gulf War were killed by their own side and whilst the British have killed none of their own in Iraq American troops had at one point killed more British troops than the Iraqis (or should I say insurgents?).

In the 2nd World War the allies used to say when the Germans bomb we hide, when the British bomb the Germans hide and when the Americans bomb everyone hides.

So what is wrong with the Americans? Bad soldiers, badly trained, high on drugs, stupid or is it that they just don't care who they kill as long as they get to shoot at something?

Answer 1

Have you ever been in a firefight? Do you have even the slightest idea of how confusing it is?

Once a bullet leaves the muzzle of a gun, it is going where it is aimed unless something happens to pop up in front of it -- like maybe a GI who didn't know it was coming because he's facing the enemy, not his comrades-in-arms!

And the only reason you have even the cheesy, BS factoids about friendly fire casualties you do is because the Western media are the only ones that print that sort of information.

Got any idea on how many insurgents are killed by the "spray-and-pray" techniques of their fellows? No? Gee, I wonder why not . . . surely Al Jazeera is digging into the friendly fire casualty rates of the Sunnis and Shia in Iraq as they attempt to slaugher each other.

Yeah, I didn't think so.

Answer 2

How do you know, the British troops didn't bugger up and call in an air strike on their own position? After all, there have been 6 British soldiers killed by British friendly fire in Iraq so far. In the Falklands war, two British companies fought an hour long battle with each other, even the SBS and SAS fought a battle with each other during that war. So it's not like the British have a good history of their own.

Answer 3

I think that it is more an issue of poor communications with the US. I think that many of the allies are annoyed that the US is running the show and their may be some competition between the forces. In short, they are in places performing missions that the US does not know about. If your best friend jumps out of the closet and scares you to death, your first reaction is to protect yourself.

To my knowledge, ground troops are NOT trained in selective fire as Special Forces are and mistakes are going to happen. It takes extreem discipline and marksmanship to pick one bad guy out of 10 without just doing them all.

Then you have a ground force under heavy fire and they call in AS. Somebody is reading a chart and calling coordinates to a communicator; they miss one number and it is a BIG problem. If it is REALLY bad the spotter will just radio, "Fire for Affect" and it places the shot placement on the gunners that have NO idea what is going on except for the last known position of the friendlies. If they pull back in the wrong direction they move right under it.

Think of the last time that you were scared SH****** and ask yourself if you could have recited your mom's and dad's birthdays much less calculated and effective fire solution.

Answer 4

Friendly-fire happens frequently in every war. It is noticeable in the current war because the enemy is unable to inflict large numbers of casualties on US or other allied troops. Confederate General Stonewall Jackson was mortally wounded by friendly fire at Chancellorsville in 1863.
Secondly, the US troops in Iraq are the only ones encountering day to day combat with an enemy determined to kill as many americans as possible using suicide tactics or are dressed like the average civilian or as we have seen lately in stolen american type uniforms. So you may forgive them if they tend to be a little trigger happy. The decision between life and death is at the blink of an eye.

The British are in the Basra region where there is no conflict between the Shiites and Sunnis. Whereas death is an everyday reality for American troops.

Lastly regarding the WW2 when was the British or for that matter any other army ever in front of American troops?

"I'd rather have a German division in front of me than a French division behind me!"
George S. Patton

Answer 5

Absolute hooey. Your question displays the two main uninformed stereotypes about the American military 1) stupid 2) brutish.

The US military, especially in Iraq, operates under the most stringent fire control ROEs (rules of engagement) in the history of modern warfare. Friendly fire incidents occur because the US is conducting close in, precision combat with an embedded insurgency in Iraq. By doing so, they expose themselves to extreme danger and increase the chance for blue-on-blue incidents in a difficult urban environment. If the US conducted warfare like most of other militaries in the world (incl Russia and China), they would simply engage from a distance with stand-off weapons, greatly reducing the risk to their troops, but catastrophically increasing the deaths of innocent civilians. As it is today, the US troops put themselves at far greater risk to avoid the taking of innocent lives.

The US should be applauded for its responsible and restrained military conduct, and the men and women of the US military should be honored for their courage and sacrifice, not derided by ill-informed commentators.

Answer 6

That's the problem when you rely too much on high technology in the battlefield (gps, digital images, etc.). Your basic instincts and reflexes tend to become rusty in the long run. I wonder how many soldiers can read coordinates from paper maps to direct artillery fire or guide themselves around, instead of the digital read-outs from electronic gadgets.

Answer 7

because 'line of fire' in a firefight is not always crystal clear, especially in one where there are multiple positions at multiple elevations and in difficult terrain...if you've ever been in one you would know its unnerving and that you have split instants to make decisions on target acquisition and shoot...and when americans lay down ordnance (bombs, small arm fire, etc.) they tend to do it in large numbers

Answer 8

Target practice for when they hit the enemies schools and hospitals.

Answer 9

a large army is always disorderly -- Sun Tzu

Answer 10

Badly trained for such tension on them.