| | *"Fratricide is the employment of friendly weapons and munitions with the intent to kill the enemy or destroy his equipment, or facilities, which result in unforeseen and unintentional death or injury to friendly personnel." <ref>[http://www.defense-update.com/features/du-2-04/feature-fratricide.htm (Eliminating Fratricide In Ground Combat)], ''Defense Update'' </ref> | | *"Fratricide is the employment of friendly weapons and munitions with the intent to kill the enemy or destroy his equipment, or facilities, which result in unforeseen and unintentional death or injury to friendly personnel." <ref>[http://www.defense-update.com/features/du-2-04/feature-fratricide.htm (Eliminating Fratricide In Ground Combat)], ''Defense Update'' </ref> |
| − | In the confusion of battle, it is easy to shoot one's own comrades in arms, accidentally. <ref>It's this combination of increasingly lethal firepower, fluid battlefields, complex communications, and the notorious "fog of war" that can add up to friendly fire losses. [http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0114/p03s01-usmi.html (Brad Knickerbocker)], ''The Christian Science Monitor '' </ref> Nonetheless, U.S. troops are required to exercise care and can be prosecuted if their negligence results in death. <ref> Military commanders have occasionally leveled charges of involuntary manslaughter in high-profile friendly-fire cases, such as one in 2002 when Maj. Harry Schmidt, an Illinois National Guard pilot, mistakenly bombed Canadian troops in Afghanistan. But ... there is no uniform, openly published military case law about when friendly-fire cases cross the line from accident to crime . . . " [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37679-2004Dec5_4.html] | + | In the confusion of battle, it is easy to shoot one's own comrades in arms, accidentally. <ref>It's this combination of increasingly lethal firepower, fluid battlefields, complex communications, and the notorious "fog of war" that can add up to friendly fire losses. [http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0114/p03s01-usmi.html (Brad Knickerbocker)], ''The Christian Science Monitor '' </ref> Nonetheless, U.S. troops are required to exercise care and can be prosecuted if their negligence results in death. <ref> Military commanders have occasionally leveled charges of involuntary manslaughter in high-profile friendly-fire cases, such as one in 2002 when Maj. Harry Schmidt, an Illinois National Guard pilot, mistakenly bombed Canadian troops in Afghanistan. But ... there is no uniform, openly published military case law about when friendly-fire cases cross the line from accident to crime . . . " [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37679-2004Dec5_4.html] </ref> |