[ Monday ]
Fracticide
The Press refers to it as "Friendly Fire"; the military calls by its given name, or as "blue on blue". Regardless of the label, it means that someone was accidentally killed, other than the declared enemy.
Throughout history, events have been recorded which mention fracticide. In the 1991 Gulf War, fully 24 percent of United States combat deaths were attributed to "friendly fire". Thusfar in Iraq, nearly one-half of the deaths on the US side have fracticide as the cause. Advances in technology have increased, rather than decreased, the incident rate.
Much of the action on the battlefield today is of the beyond-visual-range type. Advances in technology allow GPS-controlled devices to pinpoint their targets. Laser guided bombs hit the intended targets, as long as the laser is held on the target until impact. Entering the proper coordinates for GPS devices is as important as doing the same for artillery bombardments. But distinguishing the enemy from a comrade can be difficult.
One of the errors occurred when a coalition vehicle accidentally wandered into a "kill zone". Another happened when a GPS device was incorrectly calibrated. Several members of the press have been killed in Iraq due to mistakes.
There will undoubtedly be more incidents like these. What is needed, and urgently, is a method to clearly distinguish friendlies from the enemy. Technology must provide the solution, as it is already, in part, responsible for the problem.
MM [18:15]
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