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This is depressing. Supposedly-elite US unit kills one of its own:
Tillman's group moved toward the north-south ridge to face the canyon, and Tillman took another Ranger and an Afghan ally down the slope. "As they pulled alongside the ridge, the gunners poured an undisciplined barrage of hundreds of rounds into the area Tillman and other members of Serial One had taken up positions," the Post said army investigators concluded. It said the gunner handling the platoon's only point-50-calibre machine gun fired every round he had.
The first to die was the Afghan, whom the Americans in the canyon mistook for a Taliban fighter.
Under fire, Tillman and almost a dozen others on the ridge "shouted, they waved their arms, and they screamed some more," the Post said. "Then Tillman 'came up with the idea to let a smoke grenade go.' As its thick smoke unfurled, 'This stopped the friendly contact for a few moments,"' a Ranger was quoted as saying. Assuming the friendly fire had stopped, the Ranger said, he and his comrades emerged and talked with each other, the Post reported.
"Suddenly, he saw the attacking Humvee move into 'a better position to fire on us.' He heard a new machine gun burst and hit the ground, praying, as Pat Tillman fell," the Post reported. The Ranger said Tillman had repeatedly screamed out his name and shouted for the shooting to stop, the Post said. He and others waved their arms, only attracting more fire. Tillman was shot repeatedly by rifles, finally succumbing to the machine gun. Early in the firing, the Post said, the driver of one of the Serial Two vehicles pulled out of the canyon and recognised the parked US Army vehicles in front of him. "The driver shouted twice: 'We have friendlies on top!' ... Then he yelled several more times to cease fire, he recalled. "'No one heard me."'
But I think this is worse:
It took the Army a month to change the record to show that Tillman - the Arizona Cardinals defensive back who gave up a $US3.6 million ($A4.6 million) contract to become an Army Ranger - was killed last April not by Afghan guerrillas but by friendly fire.
Even then, the statement by Lieutenant General Philip R Kensinger Jr, head of the Army's Special Operations Command, gave few specifics of the corporal's death and implied that he was trying to suppress enemy fire when he "probably died as a result of friendly fire."
"Commemorations of Tillman's courage and sacrifice offered contrasting images of honorable service, undisturbed by questions about possible command or battlefield mistakes," the Post reported.
Tillman's group moved toward the north-south ridge to face the canyon, and Tillman took another Ranger and an Afghan ally down the slope. "As they pulled alongside the ridge, the gunners poured an undisciplined barrage of hundreds of rounds into the area Tillman and other members of Serial One had taken up positions," the Post said army investigators concluded. It said the gunner handling the platoon's only point-50-calibre machine gun fired every round he had.
The first to die was the Afghan, whom the Americans in the canyon mistook for a Taliban fighter.
Under fire, Tillman and almost a dozen others on the ridge "shouted, they waved their arms, and they screamed some more," the Post said. "Then Tillman 'came up with the idea to let a smoke grenade go.' As its thick smoke unfurled, 'This stopped the friendly contact for a few moments,"' a Ranger was quoted as saying. Assuming the friendly fire had stopped, the Ranger said, he and his comrades emerged and talked with each other, the Post reported.
"Suddenly, he saw the attacking Humvee move into 'a better position to fire on us.' He heard a new machine gun burst and hit the ground, praying, as Pat Tillman fell," the Post reported. The Ranger said Tillman had repeatedly screamed out his name and shouted for the shooting to stop, the Post said. He and others waved their arms, only attracting more fire. Tillman was shot repeatedly by rifles, finally succumbing to the machine gun. Early in the firing, the Post said, the driver of one of the Serial Two vehicles pulled out of the canyon and recognised the parked US Army vehicles in front of him. "The driver shouted twice: 'We have friendlies on top!' ... Then he yelled several more times to cease fire, he recalled. "'No one heard me."'
But I think this is worse:
It took the Army a month to change the record to show that Tillman - the Arizona Cardinals defensive back who gave up a $US3.6 million ($A4.6 million) contract to become an Army Ranger - was killed last April not by Afghan guerrillas but by friendly fire.
Even then, the statement by Lieutenant General Philip R Kensinger Jr, head of the Army's Special Operations Command, gave few specifics of the corporal's death and implied that he was trying to suppress enemy fire when he "probably died as a result of friendly fire."
"Commemorations of Tillman's courage and sacrifice offered contrasting images of honorable service, undisturbed by questions about possible command or battlefield mistakes," the Post reported.
