Democratic Veteran :: Not-so-Friendly Fire

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December 05, 2004

Not-so-Friendly Fire

An interesting piece in the the Post today about the death of Pat Tillman. It looks like a part of series on the friendly fire that caused his death in Afghanistan...you know, "The Other War".

One interesting thing, and some may or may not agree with me on this...but does it seem like the troops in Afghanistan are still getting the left-overs? It doesn't seem to me that the Rangers there are getting the kind of support that they should be getting to fight the actual you know, al-Qaeda and Taliban guys, as opposed to the enemies that the 1600 Crew has managed to create for the express purpose of killing our troops in Iraq, with their Phabulous Phoreign Policy.

The trouble began with a Humvee's broken fuel pump.

A helicopter flew into Paktia with a spare on the night of April 21. But the next morning, the Black Sheep's mechanic had no luck with his repair.

Uthlaut ordered his platoon to pull out. He commanded 34 men in nine vehicles, including the busted Humvee. They towed the broken vehicle with straps because they lacked a proper tow bar. After several hours on rough dirt-rock roads, the Humvee's front end buckled. It could move no farther. Uthlaut pulled his men into a tiny village called Margarah to assess options.

It was just after noon. They were in the heart of Taliban country, and they were stuck.

Uthlaut messaged his regiment's Tactical Operations Center far away at Bagram, near Kabul. He asked for a helicopter to hoist the Humvee back to base. No dice, came the reply: There would be no transport chopper available for at least two or three days.

Gee, I wonder where all the helicopters are? So, now the platoon leader has to split his command up to take care of the truck, and make it into a village by nightfall, so that they can (apparently) be in some officer in the rear's map position by night. They move through a canyon, and wait for the rest of their platoon. Unfortunately, in this day and age of instantaneous communication, these Rangers out on the pointy edge of the sword, were sorely lacking in adeqaute comms.

Ahead of them, parked outside a small village near Manah, David Uthlaut heard an explosion. From his position he "could not see the enemy or make an adequate assessment of the situation," so he ordered his men to move toward the firing.

Uthlaut designated Pat Tillman as one of three fire team leaders and ordered him to join other Rangers "to press the fight," as Uthlaut put it, against an uncertain adversary.

Uthlaut tried to raise Serial 2 on his radio. He wanted to find out where the Rangers were and to tell them where his serial had set up. But he could not get through -- the high canyon walls blocked radio signals.

Let's see, nightfall, known unfriendlies, incoming mortar rounds and lack of communications. Well, it's a good thing that Preznit Yellow Stripe can Karl Rove from anywhere in the world, isn't it? It's too bad that we have American Soldiers, Army Rangers, unable to communicate with each other and unfortunate and avoidable deaths occur as a result.

Gosh, I'm glad we saved the Iraqis from that mean old Saddam guy, aren't you? It's a shame about that Osama guy going missing. I'll bet the 1600 Crew will get someone right on that, just in time for the mid-term elections...

posted by Jo Fish on 12.05.04 at 04:46 PM

Comments:

Sorry this is off-topic, but was watching 60 Minutes tonight. This business with recalling soldiers and officers just sucks. Moms with babies, disabled dads with babies, and everyone who already fulfilled their service have no business being recalled. I say send the chickenhawks.

I wanna know when we can begin our own regime change. The stupidity and heartlessness of this administration and its policies have just got to stop.

posted by: LotusFawkes on 12.05.04 at 08:20 PM [permalink]

Commiserate with me

(Didn't Know I Was) Unamerican -- Excellent song and video by Ian Rhett

W The Lost Years : Episode 1

George W. Bush can't think of any mistakes he's made - here's a great refresher

Bush appearance on Jay Leno

George W. Bush: Words Speak Louder Than Actions - Daily Show Clip

posted by: on 12.05.04 at 10:19 PM [permalink]

Commiserate with me

(Didn't Know I Was) Unamerican -- Excellent song and video by Ian Rhett

W The Lost Years : Episode 1

George W. Bush can't think of any mistakes he's made - here's a great refresher

Bush appearance on Jay Leno

George W. Bush: Words Speak Louder Than Actions - Daily Show Clip

posted by: on 12.05.04 at 10:19 PM [permalink]

The Tillman story never made sense to begin with. They never seemed to get his rank right or explain why a PFC (or variously Spec4) was in command of any section of a rank heavy unit. And surprise he wasn't. And surprise the Army totally fabricated an Audie Murphy narrative to cover up the fact they had just blown away their most famous volunteer.

Tillman will always be a hero to me merely for the act of volunteering in the first place. But the Army prostituted the Silver Star here to do a whole bunch of Ass Covering.

On another note. Those soldiers who refused to drive the fuel convoy in Iraq? Reported today: no court martials, just some administrative Article 15 stuff, while at least one officer has been relieved from command. Which can only add up to their story of being ordered to deliver tainted fuel in unsafe trucks was pretty much true. They are even getting away with the fiction that there was no collective action, just fifteen people independently deciding not to show up. The Army clearly was caught with serious egg on its face and couldn't risk testimony under oath at a Court Martial. At least I can't see any other interpretation.

posted by: Bruce Webb on 12.06.04 at 09:19 AM [permalink]

it's ok. tillman is in heaven now, playing flag football with the apostles. judas is the captain of the devil's team.

posted by: pickles on 12.06.04 at 12:11 PM [permalink]

One of my son's best friends that he grew up with is David Uthlaut. It was shocking to read the account of what happend to his patrol. I have the utmost support and confidence that David, having known him from kindergarden and up made his best decisions. Criticizing, or the appearance of poking fun at the incident can demoralize the soldiers and those who read the article. I do believe in free speech. I hope my lack of ability to spell doesn't offend anyone. May God Bless our troops as we seek to serve Him!

posted by: Anne Hamlin on 12.07.04 at 11:07 AM [permalink]

Thanks Bruce for the update on the Army truckers, had not heard about that.

Re: Tillman, no question that the US forces in Afghanistan were stripped and put into a lesser priority status than the Iraqi occupiers. Thus no helos, which Rangers usually use quite liberally. I can understand Tillman's actions being fluffed up to a Bronze Star, but Silver? Someone was covering for the bad command decisions at company and higher levels. I just wish these articles could have come out a few months ago. Why so late? the press have to wait for some people to get out of the military?