Friendly fire

Friendly fire incidents are caused by miscommunication among military forces on the same side. The two most common types stem from errors of targeting and errors of identification.

• "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."

In the confusion of battle, it is easy to shoot one's own comrades in arms, accidentally. Nonetheless, U.S. troops are required to exercise care and can be prosecuted if their negligence results in death.

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.

The US Coast Guard cutter Point Welcome (WPB-82329) was on a routine patrol off the coast of Vietnam in 1966 when they were 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.

Historical examples

American Civil War

• In May 2 1863, Confederate General Stonewall Jackson was wounded by fellow Confederate soldiers and died 8 days later in May 10 during the Battle of Chancellorsville.

Suez Crisis

• November 6th, 1956: During a raid to capture Port Said, Egypt, a British Royal Navy carrier-borne aircraft attacked the British Army of No. 45 Commando Royal Marines and HQ, causing heavy casualties.

Falklands War 1982

• Companies A and C of the 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment, British Army engaged each other in an hour-long firefight in the Falkland Islands involving heavy weapons and artillery strikes, resulting in eight casualties.
• June 2, 1982: British SBS Commando, Sergeant Ian Hunt, was killed in a firefight with British SAS Commandos in the Falkland Islands.
• June 6th, 1982: A British Royal Navy HMS Cardiff (D108) shot down a British Gazelle helicopter in the Falkland Islands. Four British soldiers on board were killed.

First Gulf War

• February 26, 1991: Two U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft during Operation Desert Storm attacked British armoured personnel carriers with Maverick missiles, killing nine British soldiers and wounded 11 more.

War in Afghanistan

• September 26, 2007: Two Danish soldiers from the Royal Life Guards were killed by British Javelin anti-tank missiles attack during combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Iraq War

• March 24, 2003: Sergeant Steven Roberts, a tank commander with the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, was killed when a fellow British soldier manning a tank-mounted machine gun mistakenly fired at him while trying to shoot a wielding Iraqi protester.
• March 25, 2003: Two British soldiers, Corporal Stephen John Allbutt and Trooper David Jeffrey Clarke, were killed when their Challenger 2 tank was hit by a round fired on from another British tank in southern Iraq.
• April 2, 2003: A U.S. F/A-18 fighter aircraft was shot down by a U.S. Patriot missile in west of Karbala, Iraq, killing U.S. Navy pilot Lieutenant Nathan Dennis White of VFA-195, Carrier Air Wing Five.
• April 22, 2004: American Ranger Pat Tillman, a former famous football player, was shot and killed by American fire in Afghanistan.

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

• Friendly Fire incidents in Desert Storm
• Friendly Fire Incidents
• We Brits invented ‘friendly fire’