World

Inexperience cited in Canadian friendly-fire death: U.S. report

by Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke | September 4, 2009 at 03:58 am

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Private Mark Anthony Graham, a Canadian Olympian, was killed by friendly fire three years ago. He died after two US A-10 Thunderbolts attacked a Canadian position mistakenly.

Canada's Forces, who had been in a heavy fight with the Taliban during Operation Medusa, had been supported by US Air power. Two A-10 Thunderbolts attacked a garbage fire on the ground, a fire the troops had lit to remain warm.

An Investigation Report, which gave the testimony of the pilot, who had 60 combat missions, showed that the pilot had taken off his night vision goggles just before the incident.

Controllers on the ground screamed into their radio for the pilots of the mission to abort, nonetheless the scond Thunderbolt still strafed the ground.

Despite this admission by the pilots the joint investigation by Canadian an US military officers concentrated on the action of the soldier on the ground and equipment deficiencies.

The complaints included:

The Canadian soldiers did not have proper identification markers.
The Canadian air controller was tired and had been in continuous action for 72 hours with only four hours sleep.
And the Canadians had only one soldier to co-ordinate both aircraft and artillery fire

Despite the admission, transcripts of the joint investigation by Canadian and U.S. military officers show close attention was paid to the actions of the soldier on the ground and deficiencies in equipment.

The complaints included:

The Canadian soldiers did not have proper identification markers.

The Canadian air controller was tired and had been in continuous action for 72 hours with only four hours sleep.

And the Canadians had only one soldier to co-ordinate both aircraft and artillery fire.