There’s nothing friendly about friendly fire. It is every bit as deadly as enemy artillery, but it packs an extra blow, the fact that a good guy pulls the trigger. Last spring in Afghanistan, four Canadian soldiers were killed by American pilots.
Today the families of the Canadians are watching a military proceeding in Louisiana, looking for answers, and justice. But accountability is hard to find on today’s battlefield where over-stressed soldiers are fighting on multiple fronts, relying on high-tech instruments, and often receiving confusing orders through an increasingly diffuse chain of command.
Yet the military still has to answer to families with dead loved ones, and lay blame. Dodging friendly fire, battlefield accountability.
Guests:
Scott Snook, retired Army Colonel, professor at Harvard Business School, and author of “Friendly Fire: The Accidental Shootdown of U.S. Black Hawks over Northern Iraq”
Larry Seaquist, retired U.S. Navy Commander, and Chairman of The Strategy Group