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I don?t know what you guys think, but war is a very ugly thing, worse than that is when one side kills the other for whatever reason.

The recent court ruling about the American A10 attack on British troops got me thinking, this time the ruling was it was an unlawful killing, what makes my blood boil ... is the fact the USA  stalled, were unhelpful and just plain did not co-operate in this trial, they refuse to accept any blame in this incident ... we as the UK are supposed to be their best allies, yet we are treated as the kid on the end of the block, who wants to be friendly, but is never acknowledged as equal   that?s the best way I can describe the situation.

Its not only that incident, the instances of USA friendly fire are now way above average in any war, I personally knew a Soldier who was killed by another A10 attack in the first Gulf War, then their was the instance of a US Marine taking a pot shot at an RAF Chinook helicopter in Gulf War 1, the pilot immediately landed, found the Marine responsible and punched him in the face "shouting, "when have you ever seen Iraq's fly Chinook Helicopters, especially in a controlled air zone" I admire that pilot, apparently he refused to meet the US liaison officer about this incident.

I won?t mention the Tornado shoot down

I guess we've all heard the old adage about when the Yanks shoot, everyone ducks ... but it seems this half hearted comment is steeped in history

I don?t know if anyone remembers, but just prior to 9/11 two F-15s crashed in the Cairngorms, the resulting court case had the US Government wanting full blame put on the Scottish air controller at RAF Leuchars, after full evidence was observed, it transpired the poor F-15 Pilots never followed correct procedure, the ruling cleared the traffic controller the Americans wanted to blame.

The point is, we followed the law to the letter in that enquiry, but when the tables are turned, the USA never helped the UK.

What upsets me most is the fact the USA wont acknowledge mistakes, and learn from them, they seem to play the blame game or just outright shun responsibility altogether, nothing gets sorted that way, hence why we still keep seeing these accidental killings.

I honestly believe that anyone who has the power to kill, like this A10 pilot did, needs a lot more training, as did his controller (eye in the sky) he like many others were so called weekend warrior's,The A10 pilot was a reservist with no previous combat experience, not a true professional.

It giles me he is treated as a hero and actually got a medal, just for serving

Sorry about this ugly post, but I'm an RAF brat, my father served in the RAF for 21 years ... basically I needed to get this off my chest, somewhere ...  before I could move on.

In passinging, I'm not anti American, when its not war, I love the American way of life.

Right i really think that American government and military (not the American people, but the congress and other faceless beings controlling it) are always looking for blame of others. Instead of taking responsibility or consolidating accidents. Why does such a great nation want to shift the blame or cause blame on others. We only have to look at court settlements. UK may issue a prison sentence, fine, community order etc. Whereas the US believes in outrageous financial settlements of millions of dollars.
If we look at 9/11 and by this i want everyone to watch michael moores film on it the conspiracies etc are shocking. Also the government and congress pledging sons and daughters of americans to join the army. Whilst only 1 member of all congress had a son/daughter in the army. Why do they dispose of their nations children but not of their own?

I guess, what I'm really saying is, if we as a military force go into war with a proffessional attitude, then you would expect the US to do the same as well.

As for Blue on Blue or friendly fire, this is really what this topic is about

Lets stay on topic, please

Sorry about that Colin. Ive noticed there is no friendly fire on US forces. We must remember that the military force is a coalition not a 'force.'.Even though we are joined by certain militaristic attitudes we are still different nations.
The friendly fire scenario of the A10 pilots i agree need a lot of training. Although the power to kill can be used on every unit of infantry as well as armed forces. They need to be confident with thier weapons and use them effectively for the right reasons. It pains me to see that there is a sum of friendly fire deaths and that they are more frequent than seeing better militaristic positions in enemy territory.
I also believe that any friendly fire deaths should then be a case of transferred malice and indeed murder. As killing someone of your own side means (nost of the time) you inteded to kill others but through law that intent is transferred to the guilty act of killing ther own force. This should then come under national law, that in the UK's case would take the friendly firer to court and sentence him. This could also act as a detterant and indeed would encourage more careful use of firearms, aerial weaponry etc.

It annoys me there is no UK forces killing Americans, although thats what the media make of it.

Tut, we really must learn to aim better ...

Sorry,this is undoubtedly a most important subject BUT on the eve of The Australian Pink Floyd Show starting a major country wide tour is this the correct forum for airing such a sensitive topic ?
    No offence meant Colin.