British Soilder killed in "friendly fire"

[:Vampiress:]

A British soldier was probably killed by "friendly fire" in Afghanistan, a coroner in Oxfordshire has ruled.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottinghamshire/7208862.stm

[Austin Sheridan]

Yeah it's bad at the moment. Every time you see the news someone else has died. My uncle is going there on 9th May. I really don't want him to go.

[orcprocess]

A British soldier was probably killed by "friendly fire" in Afghanistan, a coroner in Oxfordshire has ruled.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottinghamshire/7208862.stm

What was friendly about it?

[Rootsie]

Yeah it's bad at the moment. Every time you see the news someone else has died. My uncle is going there on 9th May. I really don't want him to go.
Who is he with?

Say good luck to him.

In a few weeks I am going to the 21st "birthday party" of Aaron James McClure, KIA in the Stan in 2007 by a US bomb.

RIP Aaron

[Mockler]

What was friendly about it?

it was a mistake made by his allies/friends.

[Marcus89]

Blue on blue is a tradgic tradgic event. It hits moral on both sides, because it's not the enemy who's got the kill, it's your own soilders or the soilders of an allied nation. Blue on blue has dominated these two wars, with it cropping up several times, and by now one must be asking when so many incidents.

What strikes me, is that the entrance wound was the back of the head, due to the position of the exit wound, it was an extremly presise shot, one capable of a SA80 with ACOG scoping (I doubt it could have been hindsight, unless it was a lucky shot).

The report claims that on the earlier hearing - the shot was fired from the area which the taleban were suspected to be held. Assuming that the Taleban have a standard AK47, such a shot would be extremly difficult (it may have been a sniper shot). The second hearing then states that friendly forces were based in the area of where the shot came from.

Based solely on the BBC report - one raises the question of:


If the KIA was delivering resources, it would be via military truck, something the Taleban would not have.
If the Taleban and 3rd Para were based in the same area, then the Taleban are not likely to be where Pvt Cutts was at the time of the shooting.
To get a shot like the one executed, it would require a moment or two of aiming, ACOG are not the easiest to use, so why didn't the shooter relise that it was a uniformed, white British soldier, not a member of the Taleban.I think, unless there is some overwhelming evidence to suggest that Pvt Cutts looked to be a Taleban fighter, then the Oxfordshire coroner has failed the Cutts family, failed to keep British soilders in-line and has underminded (once again) the MoD.

[Rootsie]

Blue on blue is a tradgic tradgic event. It hits moral on both sides, because it's not the enemy who's got the kill, it's your own soilders or the soilders of an allied nation. Blue on blue has dominated these two wars, with it cropping up several times, and by now one must be asking when so many incidents.

What strikes me, is that the entrance wound was the back of the head, due to the position of the exit wound, it was an extremly presise shot, one capable of a SA80 with ACOG scoping (I doubt it could have been hindsight, unless it was a lucky shot).

The report claims that on the earlier hearing - the shot was fired from the area which the taleban were suspected to be held. Assuming that the Taleban have a standard AK47, such a shot would be extremly difficult (it may have been a sniper shot). The second hearing then states that friendly forces were based in the area of where the shot came from.

Based solely on the BBC report - one raises the question of:


If the KIA was delivering resources, it would be via military truck, something the Taleban would not have.
If the Taleban and 3rd Para were based in the same area, then the Taleban are not likely to be where Pvt Cutts was at the time of the shooting.
To get a shot like the one executed, it would require a moment or two of aiming, ACOG are not the easiest to use, so why didn't the shooter relise that it was a uniformed, white British soldier, not a member of the Taleban.I think, unless there is some overwhelming evidence to suggest that Pvt Cutts looked to be a Taleban fighter, then the Oxfordshire coroner has failed the Cutts family, failed to keep British soilders in-line and has underminded (once again) the MoD.
Probably.

May I point out that the abbriviation for Private is Pte. here in the UK.