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mat308, It wasn't much good for the vehicle either!I'll let you judge the truth of the story...
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Here is a sobering shot of an SUV that got lit up by mistake, by an F16 driver near the air-ground gunnery range outside Dugway, Utah.
The 'light paint and body damage' is the result of a one-quarter-second burst by the fighter's 20mm gun, which fires about 3000 rounds per minute.
An estimated 70 rounds left the gun; the results are as you see here.
What's even more astonishing is - the SUV was being driven at the time. The driver and the guy in the right-hand passenger seat escaped with some light glass injury to the driver, and a dislocated shoulder to the passenger. The shots hit the gas tank, but didn't explode; the gas just leaked out.
The passenger who normally sits in the back seat had just moved to another vehicle.
The vehicle was on the military reservation, but a full three miles away from the gunnery range.
The pilot is probably doubtless be busily writing 'I WILL NOT ENGAGE SOFT CIVILIAN VEHICLES IN NO-FIRE ZONES' 1,000 times, after which he will be PCS'd to Shemeya AFB, Alaska .
The good news is that he only had 508 plus or minus 2 rounds of ball training ammo and not HEI (high explosive incendiary)!
I would imagine this event will have an impact on his career!
the US Forces have quite a bad reputation for these kinds of incidents in Europe or the training areas of Grafenwoehr and Hohenfels in Germany. There is almost not a single exercise where US soldiers are not killed or badly wounded.
Many of these incidents later become exaggerated stories but the incidents as such I feel are too many just because of carelessness or irresponsibility on behalf of some individuals or commanders.
Regards
Kruska
The mathematics of the situation killed him, not complacency. Death and error are part of life when big toys and young, less experienced people are engaged in high risk behavior.
GI's slugging around at each other with loaded weapons, aiming at each other, shooting randomly at targets without prior fire order, just too much non disciplinary childish behavior which off course will sooner or later result in mathematical results.
...and such comments are contradictory to the professionalism that is exhibited by US forces......
So what's the point...
There are dummies all over the world but the chances of the Germans doing anything akin are slim since they don't do anything anyways
There are dummies all over the world but the chances of the Germans doing anything akin are slim since they don't do anything anyways