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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>
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>
Friendly fire losses are common in wars, as exemplified by friendly fire attacks on 53 US naval vessels during World War II that killed 186 sailors and wounded 438. These incidents mostly occurred in large-scale amphibious or aircraft carrier operations late in the war.<ref>Gauker and Blood, (1995)</ref>
The US Coast Guard cutter Point Welcome (WPB-82329) was on a routine patrol off the coast of Vietnam in 1966 when hit by "friendly fire" from American warplanes, causing a number of
casualties and the abandonment of the vessel. An inquiry blamed the incident on a lack of coordination between the air force and navy on rules of engagement identification procedures.<ref>William R. Wells, II, "Friendly Target," ''Naval History'' 1998 12(3): 33-36. 1042-1920</ref>
Other examples of victims of friendly fire include:
*[[Stonewall Jackson]] by fellow Confederates in 1863
*[[Stonewall Jackson]] by fellow Confederates in 1863
*[[Pat Tillman]] by Americans in Iraq in 2004
*[[Pat Tillman]] by Americans in Iraq in 2004
==Further reading==
* Garrison, Webb. ''Friendly Fire in the Civil War: More than 100 True Stories of Comrade Killing Comrade.'' (Nashville: Rutledge Hill, 1999). 229 pp.
* Gauker, Eleanor D. and Blood, Christopher G. "Friendly Fire Incidents During World War Ii Naval Operations." ''Naval War College Review'' 1995 48(1): 115-122. 0028-1484
==External links==
==External links==
*[http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/du_ii/du_ii_tabh.htm Friendly Fire incidents in Desert Storm]
*[http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/du_ii/du_ii_tabh.htm Friendly Fire incidents in Desert Storm]
==References==
==References==
<references/>
[[category:military]]
[[category:military]]