Canadians killed in Kandahar

[DJ88]

An american F-16 dropped two 500lb bombs after mistaking the identities of a group of soldiers. This happeend at 230am afghani time today.

Four were killed.

Here's the kicker. They were in a designated EXERCISE area participating in a joint Canadian/US exercise when an aircraft piloted by an Air National Guardsman that was NOT part of the exercise dropped it's load and killed four PPCLI's. A total of 12 were injured or killed.

What a farce. How the hell was an aircraft NOT involved in an exercise that was taking place in a DESIGNATED exercise area allowed to drop it's armaments??????? Who is the area controller for this rag tag bunch? Krusty the Clown??????

WTF!?!?!?! :mad: :mad: :mad:

You know that not a single person will be held responsible for this. Somehow everyone will come out smelling like a rose. Whoever was in charge of that aircraft in the way of an Air Controller on the ground or on an AWAC's needs to have his balls minced.

Sorry. Need to vent.

This will be listed as an acceptable exercsie loss. I think that is what the US calls it or something like that. :mad: :mad:

Here is a quote from the Chief of Defense Staff
(CBC News)

Henault also said that there will be a Canadian-led investigation with full support and co-operation from the United States.

PM pledges full investigation

The incident occurred on what Henault called a recognized training area using well-controlled routes and strict operating precautions. He said how it could have happened is a mystery, and that it must have been a case of misidentification.

The U.S. jets were reportedly not involved in the training exercise on the ground.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Another from CNN
"The details are something that need to be determined ... but certainly my understanding is that there was no hostile activity in the area that would have created this incident," said Gen. Ray Henault, <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">My thoughts are with the families. :(

[ 17 April 2002, 22:38: Message edited by: DJ88 ]

[Jack]

Let's just say I'm not impressed... to put it kindly. :mad: :mad: I feel terribly for the families and friends of every soldier involved. It makes me sick to my stomach when something like this happens. Our men get killed because of some hotshot, gung-ho, trigger happy yanky fighter jock lets off a pair of 250kg bombs... ON INFANTRY! How sickning. Sorry, had to vent. I appologize if I came across as harsh, but I'm not pleased at the moment

[Delphinus]

I am very saddened by this. Our thoughts are with their families. Best wishes to speedy recoveries for those who were injured.

:(

[BCReefer]

They are now saying on CNN that the pilot thought he was under fire.

He is also suppose to be National Guard reserve which means his training and experience won’t be as good as a regular.

It’s amazing that the first Canadian killed on an offence since the Korean was killed by friendly fire.

My thoughts are with the families and the children. What a senseless death.

[AJ_77]

A guy at work said it this morning: "Bring 'em all home."

This is bulls**t.

AJ

[DJ88]

So much for Forward Air Control.

He did do a great job of "marking" the position.

:mad: :mad:

Lose cannon is what that guy was. He was all to happy to "kick some Taliban a$$. Too bad it was those sent there to help him. He should have listend to his controller and not thought he was Jesse James in the old west.

idiot.

[titus]

Hello,

I was up at about 1-2:00am when the news came. At this moment, I'm still terribly saddened by the incident. The pilot was supposed to drop markers, not bombs. Further, I doubt the PPCLI have ammunition that will be threatening to a F-16. The PPCLI's mortars, rifles, machine guns, grenades, and at the most the carl gustav shouldn't have any threat to a high speed high altitude flying aircraft.

Whoever is the pilot should have his rank stripped and thrown into prison. He had dis-obeyed an order, commited 4 counts of murders, and fired without permission.

[titus]

Hello,

My goodness. CNN quoted the CDS as Lt. Gen, instead of Gen. Com'on give me a break here.

[terryp01]

Well, from one Yank, most of the people here are just as sickened by this incident as the post here. Anytime anyone looses his or her live due to a senseless mistake, it is difficult to accept.

I don't view the people fighting against Terrorism as being from different countries; I view them all as allies, friends and family. We all have a common objective to extinguish terrorism.

The same thing happened in Desert Storm where other Americans killed Americans, remember the scatter bombs.

BTW, why would you be running a practice exercise in the middle of a 'war zone'?

Upset in Texas, thought to those families who lost loved ones.

tp

[titus]

Hello,

It is very common to have exercises during operations. For eg, trps can practice the capture and handling of enemy forces, or extraction of friendly who are trapped in a minefield, etc. The point is, it is next to impossible to shoot down a F-16 with the equipment the PPCLI use. I don't think there's anything wrong with what the air controller did. It's the pilot.

[DJ88]

Terry,

When I was in the Gulf in '99 we exercised regularly with the other Yank ships in the battlegroup. Everything scenario you can think of. Even more on our own. Drills for shipboard training. Even tho we were "In Theater".

One thing about the military is if you aren't actually doing what you are trained to do you are practicing. Over and Over agian. You can never do something too many times in simulation. And if you aren't practicing you are sleeping.

Everywhere I have gone we were never too long without some form of training. Off of Haiti we still exercised in between boardings. In the Adriatic. Everywhere.

What really maddens me about his whole thing is that the pilot was told NOT to bomb. He did anyways. And this isn't the only time this has happened. How many know that only a short while ago another hotshot pilot saw Canadian troops on the ground and was barely called off of bombing them into oblivion??? This wasn't the first time this happened. And it won't be the last.

There obviously wasn't ENOUGH control over those flyboys. The best way to describe them IMO is Gunslingers. They just want to kill. There is a fine line between doing this as they are meant to do and gunning for blood. He said he was taking enemy fire. How could he have been. They were shooting at inert targets on a range on the ground. All it comes down to is that he wanted his 'glory'. Well he has it. I hope he never comes near me. I'll show him what I think of his glory shot. It killed people on his side because he didn't want to listen to a direct order and he wanted to be known as the guy who wiped out a bunch of Osama's buddies when he is back at his real job standing around the water cooler after his weekend stint with the reserves. :rolleyes:

Well he wiped some people out. Allies. Canadians. In a marked training area.

I hope he can't sleep at night. :mad:

[ 18 April 2002, 20:37: Message edited by: DJ88 ]

[titus]

Hello,

I have to second Darren. In the military, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep.... oh still more work, eat, sleep.

Remember it's Princess Patricia Canadian "Light Infantry". "Light Infantry" do not have the ammunition and equipment to target and fire at F-16. There are anti-tank weapons and stuff but no anti-aircraft artillery here. There are the occasional optical tracking rockets but I doubt they were kitted for that in this operation.

I guess best way to describe this for those who don't know is imagine you are flying at high speed in an aircraft and see someone doing paintball on the ground. Would you think they are a threat?

[BCReefer]

I am also ****ed off the Bush cannot even warrant this with any attention. He has given only a small indication of the problem during his “busy” day. I know that majority of the American’s are just as upset about this as we are but it seems their government isn’t. of course if they were a bunch of Mexicans instead of Canadian then Bush would have shut down the country for a day of mourning. After all it was Bush who said that Mexico was the American’s #1 trading partner.

I am also upset that the US propaganda machine call “CNN” seems not to think this is as important as Blake getting arrested for murdering his wife or Robert Duvail breaking his ribs on a movie set. Typical of any military blunder. Hide it don’t talk about it and it will disappear.

I can bet anyone $20.00 that in 6 months from now nothing will be solved and our A%*&*&E Prime Minister speaking out the corner of his mouth will tell us that everything is being looked into and he feels that the American’s (Military) are treating it seriously.

What a joke this whole thing is. He should be brought before the Canadian Military justice and be sentenced to life imprisonment in a military jail, but only after he went to Edmonton to explain to the victims families about what happened.