"Ed Rasimus" wrote in message
news
On Thu, 01 Apr 2004 05:00:19 GMT, Otis Willie
wrote:

Friendly Fire Notebook

An effort has begun to collect and preserve the details of every
friendly fire incident that took or changed the lives of American
soldiers.

Since the Revolutionary War thousands upon thousands of military
personnel have been injured or killed due to mistaken or intentional,
American friendly fire.

All are invited to participate in this project. For more information
please access URL:


GMAFB! Do we have "friendly fire" incidents reported from the
Revolutionary War? Really?

"Thousands upon thousands...." Really? Do we have bit of hyperbole
here? Is the result of this "project" predetermined? How many
first-hand accounts do we expect to glean of blue-on-blue incidents
from the Revolution, War of 1812, Civil War, Spanish-American War,
World War I.....?

Is this rigorous study going to be subject to academic peer review?

Oh,.....never mind.

While I have to agree with your assessment of the usefullness of this
"study" (not to mention suspecting the very nature of the "AWL" invovement,
since ol' Otis' group has a rather fishy background), and I truly the am
disgusted by the likes of the Henry Cobb's of this world who sit back and
point accusing fingers at incidents like the more recent A-10/USMC incident,
the number of "thousands upon thousands" is probably quite accurate. George
Washington commented on an early fratricide incident that caused significant
casualties even before this period, during the French and Indian War. During
the first significant land battle of the Civil War, at Big Bethel in
Virginia, the Federal's accounted for most of their own casualties (which
totaled some 80 personnel) when two of their elements started firing at each
other due to mistaken identity. That is just two examples from our early
history; come forward to WWII and Operation COBRA, where we bombed the poor
30th Infantry Division not once, but twice, causing hundreds (IIRC the total
came to around 600) of friendly casualties. One unit during one operation
during one war therefore gets you over halfway to your first thousand. How
many US Army paratroopers were killed during the ill-fated airborne
operation at the start of the invasion of Sicily, when the USN opened up on
the C-47's? How many "short" artillery volleys were fired during both World
War's, and what was their toll? In the end, I doubt very seriously the
aggregate total would not be quite a few thousands of casualties due to
fratricide over the course of our military history.

Brooks



Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8